Whether you are standing, sitting or lying down, good posture ensures that none of your body parts is overstressed. Because posture affects how we walk, run, jump and lift weights, having it corrected makes our body look and feel good.
However, with many of us having desk jobs, postural issues like ‘Forward Head Posture’ and ‘Upper Crossed Syndrome’ have become very common. One easy and effective exercise, ‘standing against the wall’, keeps focus on the proper posture so that one never has to deal with any of these issues. The good news is that this exercise can be done anytime, anywhere. All you need is a wall and your own body!
Standing against the wall helps correct your standing posture in various medical conditions and age-related posture deformities. The exercise also helps an individual walk better due to posture correction and is being considered better than passive stretching. Standing against the wall:
- Stretches neck flexors, and strengthen neck extensors.
- Stretches pectorals muscles, and strengthen rhomboids muscles.
- Corrects spinal posture.
- Corrects pelvic tilting.
- Joints proprioception to major weight-bearing joints, which improves posture.
- Works on lower limb muscles and help to stabilize the posture.
- Stretches spinal flexor muscles and strengthen spinal extensors.
Steps to follow
- Stand as close as possible to the wall with your back facing the wall.
- Tilt your neck back towards the wall and touch the wall
- Keep your shoulders opened as much as possible, and hands and arms relaxed against the wall.
- Keep your back straight with your butts touching the wall.
- Maintain a 12 inches between feet.
- Keep your knees as straight as possible.
- Hold this position for 120 seconds.
The last word
Being aware of good posture is the first step to breaking old poor postural habits and reducing stress and strain on your spine. Remember, good posture boosts self-confidence. Many of the people you think of do stand tall and have very good posture.
Doing ‘standing against the wall’ exercise will help you sit and stand with proper postural alignment so that you can work more efficiently with less fatigue and strain on your body.
This Blog is contributed by Dr. Deepak Kr. Nain. He is a certified therapist who specializes in the field of rehabilitation. Deepak possesses a clinical expertise in prescribing the best solutions to help people with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, Stroke, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS).
