Stop slouching and save your body from pains

Many believe that only a particular gender slouches, but we all do.

Slouching is a lazy posture that not only takes a toll on your body, but also on your appearance.

Do you know that with every inch you hold your head forward, you put 10 pounds of pressure on your spine?

Are you also aware that slouching can lead to aches and pains in your back, neck and shoulders?

Constant headache, inability to breathe deeply and tension in the shoulders and back are some of the effects of slouching.

To avoid some of these, here are things to do.

Proper sitting

Be sure your feet are flat on the floor and your knees are level with your hips or slightly higher if possible.

When you sit back in the chair, make sure your spine is supported and your shoulders are relaxed.

Your shoulders should not be rounded or hunched and make sure your computer screen is at eye level so the neck can remain neutral.

When you constantly do that, you are inculcating a good sitting posture.

Standing posture

Your shoulders should be relaxed; neck and head in line with shoulders from the side. Be sure your entire weight is balanced on both feet evenly.

Your abdominal muscles should be slightly activated. Ladies can find it a bit hard but it is the best way to go about it.

Old habit they say, die hard, and correcting a bad posture could be difficult.

When you start practising a proper standing posture, you would feel some pains in the muscles that you’ve not exerted pressure on before, but with time, the muscles would get accustomed to the body movement.

But how does one overcome slouching?

Doorway stretch

This exercise helps you to overcome many years of slouching. All you need to do is stand inside a doorway, bend your right arm 90 degrees and place your forearm against the doorframe.

Place your bent elbow at about shoulder height and rotate your chest left until you get a feeling of a nice stretch in your chest and front shoulder. Hold it for about 25 seconds and equally repeat with the opposite arm.

Shoulder dislocations

This would help those who have developed tight shoulders from slouching.

The exercise requires you to get a broomstick that is about 5 feet in long, hold it with an overhand grip and slowly sway the broomstick in front of you and then over your head until you are sure it hits you in the back area.

Repeat same thing slowly till your shoulder loosens.

Wall angels

To straighten the spine, stand with the back of your head pressed against a wall, bend your knees slightly with your arms raised against the wall and your fingers also pressed against it.

Move your arms up above your head; be sure your fingers, entire back, butt and head are pushing into the wall.

The result will be to arch out but if your backside loses contact with the wall, you aren’t doing it right.

You need to quit slouching as your shoulders turn in when you slouch and causes the chest to sink in as well.

If you maintain a slumped-over position all day long, you’re bound to lose flexibility in your shoulders and chest. If you have lost the flexibility, opt for the exercises and restore the perfect posture your body needs.