How to Fix Your Poor Posture in 10 Minutes a Day

From looking down at their digital devices or being hunched over their computer, it’s no surprise that more and more people experience poor posture. Over their years in practice, Dr. Dan and Dr. Pascal have seen a marked decline in patients’ posture—not only the appearance of their posture, but also the physical aspects of it.

According to our chiropractors, 80 to 90 percent of the patients at Lindenwoods Chiropractic have some form of posture deformities. It’s not just adults who suffer from poor posture, but patients as young as 8, 9 and 10!

What Does Ideal Posture Look Like?

So what does good or proper posture look like? When looking at someone from the side, you can use the ear canal as a marker, so the middle of the ear should line up with the center seam of a person’s shirt. In a perfect world, that shoulder sits directly over the center of the hip. There should also be a natural C-shaped arc in the neck. That’s the proper position for the health of the spine, discs and soft tissues.

4 Easy & Effective Posture-Perfecting Exercises

In their YouTube video, Dr. Dan and Pascal discuss four exercises that address the three main issues with bad posture:

• Too tight of a forward front part of the shoulder or front part of the chest
• Weak back muscles
• The head going forward

These exercises are simple to do, and take about 10 minutes a day. You don’t have to do them all at once. Consider performing 2-3 reps of one exercise during your workday, for example.

• The Bruegger Position: Flex your back backward with your arms opening up toward the front, and hold the position for 3-4 seconds and relax. Your head should look up to the sky when flexing backward. Repeat the exercise with 3-4 second contractions or holds, and repeat for two sets of 10 or 20 repetitions. For stress relief, you can inhale when flexing back and exhale when relaxing.
• Hip Hinge With Arms Straight Up to Your Side: Have a slight bend in your knees and lean forward or hinge at the hips. Your head should be slightly behind the shoulder seam, then lift your arms up to get in line with the ear canal. Hold for 20-30 seconds, then relax and repeat that 2-3 times.
• The Wall Angel: There are three points of contact with this exercise: pelvis or low back, shoulders or rib cage, and head. Getting your head back once your shoulders and low back are touching could be your starting point. The first goal is to get your head back to the wall, then bring your elbows back and rotate your hands up until they’re touching the wall.
  Now there are five points of contact: low back, shoulders, head, elbows, and wrists or fingers. Those points need to sustain contact with the wall throughout the motion. Next, slide your hands up the wall. Push your hands up to the ceiling as high as you can go until you can’t go higher. Once your arms feel like they need to come off the wall to get any higher, that is where you stop. Repeat the exercise 10 times, going up and down for two sets of 10.
• The Titanic: Named after Leo DiCaprio’s famous “I’m king of the world” scene in Titanic, this exercise uses a shoebox, yoga block or other rectangular object to put behind your shoulder blades. With the object behind your shoulders, step backwards until you’re touching the object against the wall. There will be a space between your head and the wall, and a space between your low back and the wall.Next, push your hips against the wall, which will drive your chest forward. Next, bring your head backwards and touch the wall if possible. Then do the same exercise as the Bruegger relief: squeeze your shoulder blades back and bring your hands back until they are touching the wall. Hold the position for 3-4 seconds and relax. Repeat this for two sets of 10 for 20 total reps.