5 daily posture exercises

How often do you spend working away at your desk or sat down generally? Adults reportedly spend more than seven hours a day sitting or lying down, and the older we get, the higher this figure gets (around 10 hours a day or more).¹ 

Why have we mentioned this? Well, sitting down for hours on end can potentially take its toll on our posture and possibly lead to issues with your back muscles.²

Skip to:

• What good posture is
• Fixing bad posture
• Exercises to improve posture
• Desk posture

What is good posture?

If your posture’s good, your body is correctly aligned and supported by your muscles.

Having a good posture can:²

• reduce strain on the body during movement and exercise
• maintain balance while moving and exercising
• decrease the risk of muscle strain and conditions related to overuse
• reduce wear and tear on the joints, muscles, and ligaments
• improve spine health

Overall, a good posture enables us to sit down or stand up with minimal effort and without putting strain on our body.³

What is bad posture?

There are two forms of poor posture. The type that can be corrected, and the type where it’s fixed and restricts people’s ability to move.³

The correctable posture is usually caused by sitting or standing in a slouched position; your postural muscles can get used to being in that position. Repeated coughing can also result in poor postural positions that can potentially cause the back to become stiff or weak over time.

Fixed bad postures tend to develop in people who have breathing difficulties. This is due to the fact their muscles are having to work harder, so aren’t fully dedicated to helping control posture.

The day-to-day effect of injury, illness, genetics, and gravity on our bodies can also play a part in impacting people’s postures.⁴

Can you fix bad posture?

It’s certainly possible to do some work to help improve your posture. Whether or not you’re able to ‘fix’ a bad posture very much depends on the severity and what’s causing it.

There are lots of different exercises you can follow and tips you can incorporate into your everyday life to help alleviate muscle tension that’s being caused by poor sitting and standing habits.

A lot of this guidance involves pressing the ‘reset’ button on some of old ways of sitting, standing and walking. These may take a little getting used to, and a lot of thinking about at first. However, the more you practice them, the more they should gradually become more of a natural thing.⁵

How do I correct my posture?

By working on it and, as you do, developing strength, flexibility, and balance throughout your body.

The more you work on your posture and become aware of your overall body alignment (or aches and pains that you may not have really given much thought about until now), the more you’ll recognise what’s great and not so great about your posture.

Working on your posture is something that can easily be incorporated into your everyday routine. You just need to get into the habit of doing certain posture-correction exercises or do some all-round good.

5 exercises to improve posture

1. Child’s pose

What it’s good for:

Stretching and lengthening your spine, glutes, and hamstrings and releasing tension in your lower back muscles and neck.⁶

2. Forward fold

What it’s good for:

Releasing tension in your spine, hamstrings, and glutes and stretching your hips and legs.⁸

3. Plank

What it’s good for:

Strengthening your back shoulder muscles, glutes, hamstrings, and lower back and core muscles.⁹

4. Bridges

What they’re good for:

Releasing tension and pressure in and around your buttocks and lower back.¹⁰

5. Downward facing dog

What it’s good for: 

Balancing out your body, strengthening and aligning your back muscles.¹¹

Best practice advice for sitting at your desk correctly

Whether you work from home or in an office, maintaining the right posture while you’re working is key. So if you’re looking to optimise your desk posture, follow these steps below:¹² 

• support your back by having a chair where you can adjust the height, back position, and tilt. Make sure your knees are slightly lower than your hips
• adjust your chair – you should be able to use your keyboard with your wrists and forearms straight and level with the floor
• rest your feet on the floor – make sure they are flat on the floor. If they don’t reach, use a footrest. Do not cross your legs as this can lead to posture-related issues
• position your screen so that it’s directly in front of you, about an arm’s length away and the top of it is at eye level
• position your keyboard in front of you, leaving a gap of around four to six inches at the front of the desk, so that you can rest your wrists if you need to
• put your mouse as close as possible to you and use a mouse mat with a wrist pad to keep your wrist straight

Other things that can help you maintain normal bones and muscle function

• eating a balanced diet that contains plenty of calcium, which is essential for the maintenance of normal bones. Good food sources include: dairy, green leafy vegetables, soya beans and tofu.¹³ (Check out this article for more insight: ‘Great sources of calcium – are you getting enough?’) 
• making sure you have enough vitamin D in your system, which helps the body to absorb calcium.¹⁴ The main source of vitamin D is from the sun, so in the winter months you may want to take a vitamin D supplement. (For more on this, read, ‘3 ways to get enough vitamin D.’) 
• taking care of your bones and making sure they stay healthy
• exercising regularly to help keep your body healthy. It can help strengthen the muscles that support your body and help maintain a healthy weight. One of the best forms of exercise that you can do for posture is Pilates, as it helps to bring awareness to your alignment and strengthen your postural muscles.^15,16 Your postural muscles are the deep muscles in your back, pelvis, and abdomen.¹⁷

The final say

From releasing tension in the deep muscles of the back to stretching your postural muscles, these exercises should help you to improve your overall posture. Inspired by these moves and stretches? Discover five different yoga sessions and find the best one for you.