Stretches to Improve Your Posture

Over time, having poor posture can lead to stiffness and pain in the back and neck. Most of us don’t notice that we are slouching as poor posture can be developed very gradually. If you have a job that requires you to sit at a desk or stand for long periods of time, it becomes very hard to maintain good posture. Fortunately, there are some simple stretches that can be performed at home or at work to help correct your posture and alleviate back pain or discomfort. Before we dive into the stretches, let’s take a look at why upper body postural stretching and proper posture is important:

Healthy Breathing Patterns

Keeping our upper body in an upright position encourages healthy breathing patterns. This allows for optimal function of our thoracic diaphragm and decreases compression on our abdominal organs. Having good upper body posture lowers the chances of injury, reducing the severity of injuries that occur in the thoracic area.

Spinal Health

Proper posture maintains appropriate weight bearing on facet joints, neutralizes pressure on intervertebral discs, allows for a correct position of our lumbosacral junction, and permits for continuation of mobility from the thorax to the pelvis. Our body functions optimally when we maintain good posture, .

Upper Body Postural Stretches

Each stretch sequence you can perform 3 to 4 times daily to aid in mobility and decrease tension in your upper body. Each stretch should be held for a minimum of 30 seconds to a maximum of 90 seconds. If you experience any pain or tingling sensations when performing a stretch, avoid that stretch sequence or decrease the range you are moving into. You should move into and out of each stretch slowly to avoid any injury and only stretch until you feel light resistance.

Doorway Stretch

Standing in a doorway place your arm in a 90°/90° position. Using the weight of your body, lean forward making sure the shoulders are positioned in line with one another until a stretch sensation is felt in the front of your chest.

Wall Stretch

While standing near a wall make sure to keep your shoulders square across your body, place your arm in an extended position at shoulder height or at varying heights along the wall to increase the presence of a stretch sensation in the front of your chest.

Standing Side Bending Stretch

To stretch the right side of your body, begin by placing your right foot behind your left foot. Once in the starting position, begin the stretch sequence by lifting your right arm overhead reaching toward your left side, stretching up and over toward the left of the room. Straighten your hands toward the ceiling when you take a deep inhale and side bend toward the left corner of the room with each exhale. Follow the same sequence on the opposite side of your body.

Corner Stretch

The corner stretch is good for stretching the muscles in your chest as well as strengthening your postural muscles in the back. When going into this stretch make sure your hands are at shoulder height, fingers toward the ceiling and your feet are ~1 ft. away from the corner of the room. Then, making sure your elbows are tucked, lean forward toward the corner keeping your neck in alignment, looking straight ahead with your gaze. You can hold this pose anywhere between 30 seconds and 90 seconds. However, if you experience tingling sensations in your upper limb, back out of the stretch slowly and decrease the amount of time you are performing the stretch for. You can do this up to 3x/day and in conjunction with shoulder roll exercises to help improve postural biomechanics.

Shoulder Roll & Chest Opening Stretch

With your arms relaxed at your sides, begin this stretch by raising your shoulders up towards your ears on inhalation. Move your shoulders back, squeezing your shoulder blades together, and exhale, as your bring your shoulders down your back. You should feel an opening up through the front of your body. Interlace your fingers together behind your lower back and hold. You should feel this stretch in both your chest and shoulders.

Anterior Cervical Fascia Stretch

Begin this stretch by placing your hands underneath your collarbones sinking in and providing a slight traction downward toward your feet. Once your hands are anchored extend your neck toward the ceiling until you feel a slight muscle pull from above the collarbones to the tip of the chin. You then rotate your head toward the right and left to stretch each side of the front of the neck. This stretch is beneficial for decreasing tension in the front of the neck as well as aiding in increasing circulation.

Cat Cow Stretch

This stretch involves moving the spine from a rounded position (flexion) to an arched position (extension) and is good for aiding in circulation along the length of the spine. Start on your hands and knees, hip width apart, release the tops of your feet to the floor, tip your pelvis forward tucking your tailbone, follow this motion along the length of your spine arching your back, drawing your navel in towards your spine and dropping your gaze downward letting your head drop naturally. Remember to keep your shoulders relaxed and not drawn up towards your ears when moving into spinal flexion.

In the second part of the stretch curl your toes under, tilt your pelvis forward so that your tailbone sticks up, follow this movement along the length of the spine to the neck moving last after you have opened through the chest widening the collar bone area. Let your belly drop keeping your navel drawn in towards your spine letting your gaze extend toward the ceiling, being sure not to overextend your neck.

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