Correct posture is a guarantee of excellent health, well-being and self-confidence. Often in childhood and adolescence, little attention is paid to the health of the spine, the correct position of the body (for example, at the desk), the physical tone of the back muscles. Only when back pain appears, questions become relevant how to straighten the spine and restore its former health, how to make it more flexible and more resistant to stress, how to straighten your posture.
Despite the frequent misconception that health lost in youth cannot be restored, anyone can correct the violation of posture. This process is reversible and is not associated with deformation of the bone structures of the spine.
To understand how to straighten your posture, it should be understood that the standard of the correct position of the spine is an unstressed state of the body, in which the person’s chest at the level of the “solar plexus” is forward, the stomach is slightly retracted, the shoulders are turned, lowered and relaxed, the shoulder blades are not perform. In a person with good posture, his head is raised, but his chin is not raised, and his gaze is as if directed from top to bottom.
First of all, the state of the muscles of the back and abdomen affects the posture of a person. Most people are not able to go to the fitness room or hire a personal trainer. Therefore, it is important for them to know how to straighten the posture at home, on their own, with the help of improvised means. At home, you can perform the following exercises aimed at improving muscle tone of the back:
- Stand straight, legs together, arms lowered along the body. Inhale and raise your hands up. Exhale. Bend back. Inhale. Lower your arms and lean forward. Round your back, lower your shoulders and head. Exhale. This and subsequent exercises should be repeated 5 to 8 times.
- In a pose on all fours, straighten the spine from the neck to the lower back, and then bend it down strongly and freeze in this position for a couple of seconds.
- Lying on your stomach, stretch your arms along the body. Relax and then raise your head and legs up.
If these exercises seem difficult or cause pain, then at the initial stage they can be replaced with simpler ones:
- In a standing position, raise your elbows up and put your palms on your shoulder blades. Keeping your arms apart, bring the shoulder blades together. Repeat the exercise several times.
- Take the item in your right hand and pass it to the left behind. In this case, the right hand is on top, and the left is below. Then from the left hand pass the object to the right hand over the left shoulder, and so on, several times.
There are exercises that allow the body to "remember" what is correct posture. Correcting the posture with such exercises is an interesting and exciting process. To complete them, you need a book or any other item to put on your head.
Stand against the wall so that the heels, back and head touch it. Put the book on your head and, without holding it, walk around the room with it. To further complicate the exercise, try to sit down a couple of times, stand on a small bench or step and get off it, do household chores. If at the initial stage the book constantly falls, then replace it with a bag of salt.
Many people, especially those busy with urgent matters, think about how to straighten their posture without being distracted from the work process. In this case, several recommendations will help:
- Do not sit with your legs crossed. Place your feet on the floor, resting on the entire surface. The hips should be above the knees.
- Relax and lower your shoulders. Put your chest forward. Tighten your stomach a little.
- When standing and walking, distribute body weight over the entire surface of the feet.
- Keep your head and neck in a straight line with your spine.
If you have to work a lot while sitting at the computer, then it should be installed so that the monitor is located at eye level. For a laptop, it is better to purchase a special stand. Every 30-40 minutes you need to take a break and warm up to relieve tension from the muscles of the back and eyes.
It should be noted that before you straighten your posture completely and for a long time, a person must be patient, as muscles and tendons do not immediately get used to the correct position of the body. However, patience and zeal are ultimately rewarded with excellent health and attractive appearance.