Correct Your Bad Posture | Causes of Bad Posture and the Fix

Best Exrcises and Stretches For Bad Posture

Correct Your Bad Posture |Causes of Bad Posture and the  Fix

• Overview
• Benifits of Good Posture
• Causes and Consequences of Bad Posture
• Fixing Bad Posture

Overview

Maintaining a correct body posture seems to be a challenge to many people around the globe, especially with the constance change in lifestyles that involves a lot of sitting behind desks.

A person with a good body posture would have three naturally occurning curves along their spine. 

One at the level of the neck, a little inward curve should be there. 

The second curve is pointing outward right on the upper back (Thoratic region). 

The third curve is at the level of the lower back (Lumbar region) bending inward.

Excessive bending in these three regions are considered to be bad posture. 

Along with this, another serious problem can occur and that's rounded shouders (Shoulders bending forward)

Benifits of Good Posture

• A natural upright posture is a requistite for maintaining an optimal body balance and proportion. 
• It keeps bones and joints alingned correctly so that their function of using muscles is at its best. 
• It prevents the joints from being depressed and the ligaments from wearing and hence,
• It allows for the normal joint movement and muscle flexibility.
• It prevents joint, tendon and muscle pain and injuries.
• It allows for a good natural and easy breathing.
• It makes the appearance of the body more attractive.  

Causes and Consequences of Bad Posture

Bad posture causes undless troubles and makes life more difficult. 

There is a good number of facors that may interfere and  affect your spine alignment. 

It can occur as a result of injury or daily habbits, but it can also be due to genetics. 

Being aware of the root of the problem can give you insights on how to treat and correct your posture. 

Here are the most common factors to consider:

1. Daily habbits 

Working long hours behind a desk or sitting in front of you computer playing too much games will eventually force your body to let go of that upright posture because  it gets more diffuclt to maintain it as time passes by. 

It's a way the body uses to adapt when there is muscle pain or spasm due to weakness or constant tension. 

Doing this for a long period of time will leave you with a curved back, and rounded shoulders. 

The neck has also to be bending further inward as a way of componsation to maintain balance.

2. Using electrinic Devices

If you sit all day texting on your mobile phone or tablet, you are likely to put your neck muscles into much flexion. 

Causing your neck to be in a downward stretched position weakens the muscles at the back of the neck and messes around with the correct alignment of the spine. 

People who do this quite frequently experience neck pain and discomfort.

3. Stress 

Undergoing stressful life situations constantly may lead to shorter breathing patterns and more muscle tensity. This affects posture to a large extent. 

Furthermore, stressed people tend to lose self-confidence and that directly shows in their shoulders as they drop to a forward and down position.

4. Muscle tightness and muscle weakness 

Whether you have muscle tension (Tightness) or muscle weakness, your posture is going to suffer. 

Tight chest muscles due to overtraining or even just sitting behind a desk pulls your shoulders forward creating a curved upper back. 

The antagonist muscle groups (rotator cuff, lower traps and rhomboids) get weaker as a result, which aggravates the problem. 

Muscle weakness can be also in case of an injury. The injured muscle tends to be in a state of abnormal contraction (Spasm) to protect itself from being further hurt. 

As the opposing muscles continue to work normally while the injured one is tight and avoiding movement, an imbalance in posture is created especially if the injury takes long to recover.

Fixing Bad Posture

To correct your bad posture, you need first to address the above mentioned causes. 

Following exercises to fix your posture while keeping your daily habbits that ruin it will do you very little, if nothing at all.

It takes you some alertness to correct your sitting, keep your phone away or avoid stress when you are in the middle of each of them. 

It may sound rediculous to say alertness, but whether you like it or not, the majority of us don't reaize it when our faces start getting closer to that coputer screen and our backs start hinging.

Once you are alert, you can start incorporating some exercises and stretches to optimise your posture. 

Here are some of the best workouts and strechtes you can do to see pretty fast results:

Exercises 

1. Face Pulls With an Underhand Grip 

You can do three sets of this exercise after every workout if you are a gym goer; if not, then you can do it every other day wherever you are. 

You can still do this exercise at home with a resistance band.

2. Rotator Cuff  Exercises 

This includes any external rotation of the arm; with elbows tucked in to the sides or being at shoulder level.

3. Y raises

This exercise isolates your lower traps and maximises their activation. 

A well developed lower traps are quite important for your upright posture.

4. Lower Abs Workouts 

Strengthening your lower abs is crucial for avoiding that excessive curve in the lower back. For that, You can do hanging leg raises and v ups. 

However, abs are not the only core muscles that should be strengthened; working on tightening  your transverse abdominis is highly recommended.

Stretches

You should be strechting you pectoral muscles and your subscapularis (Anterior rotator cuff). 

Never strectch your hamstrings if you have a lower back tilt.