Easy exercise for the posture of the upper body

Often I see patients, who has a tendency to carry there head in a forward position, or to have round shoulder. Another common problem is to have a hump back. This video shows 5 easy exercises, that you can do at home or at the gym, without any equipment. Those exercises will help your upper body posture, as well as strengthening the spine and flattening your stomach.

Having a good posture of the upper body, will help decrease the pain, in the cervical, and shoulder area. This will also decrease or prevent the symptom of degenerative joint disease of the lower cervical.

Strong back, and good posture with core muscle exercise

The core muscle, are the muscle that stabilize your posture. It include the abdominals muscles, the back muscle, and the pelvis muscle (butt). It is important to keep them very strong, because weak core muscle, will cause, an imbalance when you move, wich will eventually cause, low back, pelvis, knee or hip problem. We have to do specific exercise in order to reenforce them.

Walking is a good general exercise for core strenghtening. But what I usually recommend to strenghtened those muscles is the stability ball, also known as the exercise ball or the swiss ball. One easy exercise you can do, is to just sit on it, watch tv, work, while sitting on it. Start with 15-30 min. and increase your time as you feel more confortable on the ball. Just sitting on the ball require you to keep your balance, and eventough you may not feel it, your muscle are working. There is many other exercises you can do on the ball. The next 2 videos shows you more exercise. There is also many books on the subject. The 4 point exercise, is a very good exercise to perform ( the first video ). Just remember to start slowly, and to contract the transverse, which are the abdominal  muscle located at the pelvis, and don't forget to breath.

Related aticles: How to prevent low back pain

How to prevent low back pain

Low back pain is a common complaint, and a very painfull condition. Most of the low back injury occurs with faulty movements and bad habits. It is important to learn, how to use your low back properly, and to learn proper posture, when sitting, bending, lifting, pulling, etc. I will give you, a few example advice, but once you understand how the low back work, you will know what to avoid.

• When lifting, keep the weight close to your body
• When lifting, bend your knee, don't keep your leg straight
• When lifting, don't rotate and overextend
• Avoid straining
• If you sneeze, bend your back slightly
• Don't miscalculate the weight your lifting
• Avoid leaning forward for a prolonged period
• Avoid standing still or sitting for long period of time
• Don't sleep on your belly
• When standing still, place one of your foot on a small stool
• When sitting, your feet should be firmly on the ground
• When sittng, your knee should be slightly higher than your hip

Measuring the weight load on the disk, is a good way to know, if a movment is dangerous for your low back . Once you understand how the weight is put on the low back, it is easy to apply it to every movement, in your everyday life.

Load measurements in the L3 disk of a 70 kg man:

Lying on your back: 30 kg
Standing on your feet: 70 kg
Walking: 85 kg
Twisting: 90 kg
Bending sideways: 95 kg
Sitting without support: 100 kg
Coughing: 110 kg
Jumping: 110 kg
Straining: 120 kg
Laughing: 120 kg
Bending forward 20 degrees: 120 kg
Lying on your belly and hyperextended: 150 kg
Sit-up exercise with knee extended: 175 kg
Bending forward at 20 degrees with a 10 kg weight: 185 kg
Lifting 20 kg with back straight and knees bent: 210 kg
Lifting 20 kg with back bent but knees staight: 340 kg