We all know what good posture looks like but try as we may, after a long day at work we inevitably fall back into poor mechanics. Instead of getting frustrated with constant reminders to temporarily adjusting your sitting posture, shouldn’t we focus on the root cause of why this is occurring in the first place?
While working at a desk all day our back musculature is more apt to become fatigued and weakens over time, which in turn causes the anterior musculature (specifically the chest muscles) to become overactive or “tight”. This constant battle between the two sides of the body is what causes us a variety of resulting symptoms; tension headaches, numbness/tingling in the upper extremities, as well as a variety of others.
Consider these three exercises throughout your day to aid in restoring good posture and realigning the musculature throughout the body:
- ½ Kneeling Open Book (1 set of 10 reps each direction): This exercise helps to increase/restore complete spinal mobility.
- Chin Tucks (1 set of 15; 3-5 sec holds): This exercise helps to strengthen the intrinsic musculature of the cervical spine, thus reducing possible compensations that may occur as a result.
- Resisted Scapular Retraction (1 set of 15; 3-5 sec holds): This exercise helps to the strengthen the rhomboids, which helps to promote good posture as well as limit anterior rotation of the shoulder.
Questions, comments, concerns? Feel free to reach out to any one of our therapists in our PT department and we would be happy to help in any way we can!
Written by: Kyle Woodward MS, LAT, ATC