Enemies of beautiful posture. Three habits that ruin your appearance

People with good posture immediately make a good impression and exude self-confidence. But how often do you meet people like that, with straight shoulders and a straight back? Unfortunately, modern lifestyle makes us curl up, because we sit at work, in the car and public transportation, spend long hours at the computer. And if you do not pay attention to posture and do not exercise, then soon you can easily turn into a visual embodiment of a question mark.

How to realize that you have an uneven posture?

Not every person may realize that they have problems with their spine. Unless, of course, obvious lapses are visible to the naked eye from the outside. For other cases, there is a simple test, which is described in his “instagram” osteopathic physician Andrei Shmykov.

Andrei: So, find any flat wall. Now lean against it with your back, buttocks and heels. Don’t forget to put your feet flat, and keep your head so that your gaze is directed forward. Stand in this position for a while, at least 1-2 minutes. If at the end you realize that this body position is uncomfortable for you, then congratulations – you need to work on your posture.

Most likely, many people will need to work on their posture after a light check. That’s because it’s not just serious external factors and injuries that can cause damage to your back, but also poorly fitting shoes and routine habits that are repeated day in and day out. Let’s talk about three of them and share ways to solve the problem.

Forward head protrusion – the fault of the phone and computer

Our lives are inextricably linked with various gadgets. Many of us sit at a computer and involuntarily pull our head closer to the screen. Most people do not part with their smartphones for a minute, hanging out in social networks, messengers and scrolling through news feeds. To do this, we pull our head forward again or tilt it down. All these actions not only create unnecessary tension for the muscles of the neck and spine, but also gradually lead to the fact that they memorize this position and become too rigid, and the head begins to constantly stretch forward. This leads to lower back pain and the abdomen starts to protrude unsightly forward.

How to fix it? Retrain your muscles by stretching. It’s easy enough to do, the main thing is to practise regularly. Smoothly take your head back and stay in this position for 30 seconds. You should feel tension in the chin and throat area. Then tilt your head back and to the right for 30 seconds and then back and to the left for another 30 seconds.

In addition, you can place a mirror at your desk and monitor yourself so that your head does not protrude forward.

Slouching is a consequence of a sedentary lifestyle

Along with the head stretched forward, many people suffer from slouching. You have to agree, it does not look good. The muscles of the chest contract and “shrink”, the shoulders rise up, the back is hunched. The most common cause is a sedentary and sedentary lifestyle. In younger years, you may not pay attention to this, but with age you will definitely cause unnecessary problems with the spine. Slouching appears due to excessive tension of the pectoral muscles and weakness of the muscles that straighten the spine.

How to fix it. Stretch the chest. For example, with the usual hanging or half-hanging on the bar. Even an untrained person can cope with this, and you do not have to sign up for a gym. The bar is available at many sports grounds, or you can buy a home bar – they are installed in the doorway or on the wall. The hang allows you to stretch your shoulders and chest due to your own weight.

There are many ways to stretch the pectoral muscles and spine, and some of them do not even need equipment. Here are a couple of exercises that can be easily performed at home without additional equipment.

Stretching in a doorway

Stand in the doorway, sideways to the frame. Bend your arm at the elbow at a right angle, place your palm and forearm on the frame. Rest against it and slowly turn the body to the opposite side of the arm, stretching the muscles. Keep your back straight. It is enough to do stretching for a minute on each side.

Stretching at the wall

To train the muscles that straighten the spine, you need to stand at the wall. Her heels, back, buttocks and back of the head should touch it. At this time, the arms are lowered down. Slowly raise them along the wall as if you were going to make a snow angel, and stop when they are parallel to the floor. Then bend your arms at the elbows and slowly extend them above your head. Your elbows and the backs of your palms should be against the wall, and it’s important to keep your posture straight. Do two sets of 20 reps each.

Forward tilt of the pelvis – due to lack of mobility

The pelvis should be in the correct position – upright, then the spine will be easier. But you can find a problem when the pelvis is tilted forward, and often a sedentary lifestyle is again to blame. In the sitting position, the hip flexor muscles are always tense, and the buttocks, on the contrary, are weakened. The anterior thigh muscles adapt to this posture and become rigid, pulling the pelvis towards themselves and preventing them from taking the correct position.

How to fix it? If possible, spend as little time sitting as possible. When working at the computer, for example, it is useful to get up and walk a little every hour. There are also special exercises to stretch the shortened hip flexors. Take a lunge position: stand with one knee on the floor and rest your other leg on the foot. Slowly lean backward, stretching the front of the thigh. After a minute, switch legs.

Another exercise should be performed as follows: put your knees and palms on the floor, arms should be straight, torso parallel to the floor. Simultaneously raise your right arm and left leg, keeping the correct curves of the spine. In this way, only the muscles of the buttocks and shoulder blades are engaged.

The main thing – a comprehensive approach

From most addictions is quite possible to get rid of on your own with the help of mindfulness, training and selection of the right shoes. However, the doctor of osteopathy is sure that the real problems with posture is better not to run and solve them comprehensively under the supervision of a specialist.

Andrei: As an osteopath, I am sure that proper footwear – heel and fit – for both men and women plays an important role in the prevention and maintenance of correct posture. If you have problems with practicing to regain correct posture, then there is a third way – medical. Doctor of osteopathy determines what caused the wrong posture (believe me, it is not always a simple sitting at the table), finds the presence of displacement of organs and possible malfunctions or pinching. And after this diagnosis begins to work on relaxing the muscles, because after that the spine is able to straighten and, accordingly, to ensure the normal functioning of pinched because of posture organs. And already in the future it will be necessary to preventive maintenance of the obtained effect.