By Aibout Hichem Thursday, June 21, 2012 0 comments

What Is Posture?
POSTURE is the position from which movement begins and ends.
Having proper postural alignment enables the body to perform
movements quicker with less joint and muscular strain. A
qualified physical therapist or a CHEK practitioner in your area
should evaluate your posture.
Why Good Posture Is Important
The body is designed to work at the most economical level, thus
saving energy for future use. We spend more energy
maintaining misaligned posture, which can cause muscle and
joint pain. Think of yourself like a skyscraper. If the skyscraper
leaned to the left for 10 floors and then a little to the right for
10 floors and so on, you would not enter the building. However,
we let ourselves become such a building. We compromise our
body’s integrity by not maintaining proper posture, resulting in
decreased circulation—leading to varicose veins, muscle pain,
joint pain, and many other conditions.
Women in general tend to develop poor posture because of
many factors. They often have more clerical and computeroriented
jobs that require sitting in a chair, eyeing a computer
screen for long periods of time. They also wear high-heeled shoes, which lead to an alteration and compensation of their
posture. (If you want to know more about this, email me.) The
development of breast tissue or the augmentation of breasts can
lead to many postural changes. Women also have less
musculature to maintain proper alignment, leading to rounded
shoulders, forward head posture, hyper-extended knees, and
increased thoracic and lumbar curves.
Men can also develop all of these postural problems but at a
different degree and rate depending on their situation.
To improve your posture and reduce structural damage, you
should adhere to a corrective postural exercise program. This
simple yet productive program will combat the effects of bad
posture and help alleviate joint and muscle pain.
Exercises for correcting posture:
Prone Cobra
 Axial Extension Trainer
 Wall Leans
 Cervical Extension using a blood pressure cuff

Prone Cobra

This is a great postural strengthening and endurance exercise.
Position: Lie face down on a comfortable surface.
Movement:
1. Maintaining proper spinal alignment, gradually raise your
chest off the ground while simultaneously externally rotating
your arms outward, keeping your hands supine. (When you
are in the correct position your thumbs are pointing toward
the ceiling like a thumbs-up from Fonzie).
2. Gradually draw your shoulderblades together. Keep your
head from flexing or extending. Maintain this position for 10
seconds.
3. Return to the starting position and rest for 10 seconds.
Repeat this sequence 10 times, two to three times per day. To
assist you in this exercise, use a kitchen timer.

Axial Extension Trainer

This exercise will re-establish what good upright posture feels
like. You might want to balance a diver’s weight (3–5 pounds) on
top of your head so you will understand how upright good
posture feels. If you do not assume good upright posture with
the diver’s weight on, you will feel tension throughout your
body and may even drop the weight.
This exercise should be performed for two minutes at a time, six
to eight times per day.
Position: Stand up with perfect functional posture.
Movement:
Stand as though you have a balloon tied to the top of your head
and it’s pulling you toward the sky.

Wall Leans

This is a great exercise for exciting the cervical, thoracic
extender musculature and building postural endurance.
Position: Stand with your head, shoulders, buttocks, and heels
against a wall. Place a soft towel behind your head for comfort.
Movement:
Walk your feet out one foot from the wall while maintaining a
rigid standing posture. Ensure that your hands are at your sides.
Maintain this position 30–45 seconds, depending on your
current ability.
Repeat this exercise three to four times per day for 30–45
seconds each time. Work up to two minutes in the wall lean
position.

Cervical Flexors with a Blood Pressure Cuff

This exercise engages the cerviacl extention muscles, which
tend to get lazy and let the head protrude into forward head
posture (which you don’t want). This exercise excites the muscle
spindals in the cervical extendors. This aids in pulling the head
back into proper position.
Position: Lie comfortably on the floor and place the blood
pressure cuff under your cervical spine (neck area). Pump the
blood pressure cuff up to 40 mm Hg.
Movement:
Tuck your chin to your chest and gently apply pressure to the
blood pressure cuff with your neck extender’s musculature. The
blood pressure cuff should rise up 10 mm Hg to 50 mm Hg.
Hold this position for 15 seconds; rest for 10 seconds.
Repeat this cycle for two minutes.

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