5 Essential Steps To Improving Your Posture

Your posture is something that can worsen over the years. The longer it’s not corrected, the worse the outcome is likely to be. However, by taking the appropriate steps to correct and strengthen specific areas of the body, it’s possible to improve it noticeably. In so doing, your spine and muscular system can help support all your future endeavors rather than being a hindrance to them. 

Here are five essential steps to improve your posture.

1. Strengthen the Back and Engage Your Core

Exercise is one of the things that can do wonders when needing to correct poor posture. A rowing machine provides the necessary back support while performing the rowing action. The legs are engaged, and the knee joints move through their full range of motion with this exercise. 

While your back and core get an added boost, your legs and arms do much of the work. So, they all benefit from this form of exercise without the associated potential impact damage from running or other exercises. 

If you need more convincing about why you should consider getting a rowing machine, look at this linked article that goes into more detail. 

2. Check Your Seating Arrangement

Whether you’re working in an office or from home, being seated for many hours of the day is a common issue that can cause poor posture. 

Sitting slouched over, or sitting more on the edge of your seat with a gap between your backside and the back of the chair, puts pressure on your lower spine. This can also cause an unintended curvature of your spine when doing it too often. 

Your chair should support a proper posture. It needs to be ergonomic to provide a way to sit comfortably at the correct angle. Spending a little more money to get a supportive chair can pay dividends later. 

3. Lose Some Weight

While you can point to various reasons why your back is giving you trouble or your posture is poor, carrying around extra weight doesn’t help.

Whether this has been the case for a long time, or you’ve put on weight more recently, your posture may have changed for the worse too. It may be time to reverse the course that you’ve been on.

It may not be nice to know the reality that exercise, and some dieting, may be in your future, but it will certainly assist you in straightening out your body. 

4. Look at Your Shoe Collection

Low-heeled shoes are less of a problem than high styles. Nevertheless, if the heels are worn down on opposite sides due to pronating when you walk, this can put you off-balance. If you walk this way for long enough, it can create imbalances. 

The situation is worse still with high heels. These elevate the person but can cause a wobbly effect due to the far smaller heel that the rear part of the shoe is balanced on. If you’re experiencing posture issues, it might be sensible to wear low-heel shoes for the time being until the matter is corrected. 

5. Practice Better Posture in the Mirror

Practice better posture in the mirror. This can include standing, walking, and being in a seated position too.

Have a friend look at your posture in different situations to point out obvious issues. Or record yourself using a selfie stick or tripod to see what they would see. Reference a guide to good posture to know what to look for, so you can correct it. 

Bad posture is usually a fixable thing. See what you can do using the suggestions above. It may also be worth using the services of a chiropractor where appropriate too.