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In addition to following the Guidelines to Improve Posture, there are other ways for you to achieve better posture, such as:
- Increasing your flexibility and range of motion
- Strengthening weak muscles, and
- Doing special exercises designed to address these problems.
One way for you to achieve the above is to stretch regularly.
As you age, your muscles tighten and the range of motion in your joints can be minimized. This can obviously affect an active lifestyle or even hinder your day-to-day, normal motions. As you age, tasks that used to be simple could now become very difficult.
One way to remedy this is to embark upon a regular stretching program. This will help lengthen both your muscles and tendons. This in turn leads to an increased range of movement, which means your limbs and joints can move further before an injury occurs. In short, irrespective of your age, stretching will make your daily living activities easier to accomplish.
The good news is that anyone can learn to stretch, regardless of age or flexibility. The correct way to stretch is to stretch until you feel a slight pulling of the muscle, but no pain. As you hold the stretch, the muscle will relax. As you feel less tension in the joints and muscles, you can increase the stretch again until your muscles feel the same slight pull. Hold this position until you feel the tension subside.
In younger, more active people stretching can help to prevent an injury by promoting recovery time and decreasing soreness of joints and muscles. It also ensures that your muscles and tendons are in good working order. The more conditioned your muscles and tendons are, the better they can handle the rigors of sport and exercise, and the less likely that your muscles and tendons will become injured.
Bouncing during a stretch is dangerous and is not recommended.
Here are a few of the benefits you can expect from a regular stretching program:
- Reduced muscle tension
- Increased energy levels (this is the result of an increase in circulation)
- Injury prevention
- Increased range of movement in the joints
- Enhanced muscular coordination
- Increased circulation of the blood to various parts of the body
You can download a stretching poster by clicking here. This poster will show you what stretches to do and how to stretch properly.
If exercising and stretching on a regular basis is not something that appeals to you, then your answer to the problem is the Posture Pal Posture Cushion, a therapeutic cushion that uses gravity to do all of the above. It is extremely effective in relaxing overworked muscles, stretching muscles and tissues that need to be stretched, correcting forward head posture and relieving pain associated with bad posture. All you have to do is lay on it for between 5 and 20 minutes a day!
In addition to improving your range of motion, stretching is relaxing and will help you maintain a balance in your body mechanics. One of the biggest benefits of stretching may be something science cannot yet quantify: it makes you feel great!
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