Bad Posture
 

Hi ladies,

I have horrible posture and have even began to get a little bump on my back because of it :(. I was wondering if you had any tips or tricks on getting a better posture. Would be getting a back brace be effective for my body to get used to sitting straight.

Try to be more aware of your posture, and do stretching exercises. Your back will get stronger over time, and your posture will improve.

This, and you could get a Swiss Ball to sit on when you are at home. Some offices are OK with that too. You can google/youtube it to see what I am talking about. If your posture isn't perfect when sitting on the ball, you'll just roll off. Your body automatically adjusts to the proper posture to keep you on the ball and at first your muscles will be tired like a real workout (because for you it will be) but you will soon get used to it and it will be comfortable and second nature. I used Swiss Balls with almost all my Rehab clients - I have several in different sizes just for me.
Talk to your doctor if you are concerned about "dowager's hump", or osteoporosis collapsing your ribs and sternum in the front (yes, I've seen it many times), or scoliosis that may also be involved.

Liana

I have found yoga has been helpful but I recommend taking a class from an experienced yogi. Doing videos may make your posture worse without someone to spot a bad technique.

Physical therapy! I know it sounds extreme but physical therapy is the most expedient way to focus on something like this. I am in physical therapy right now for some upper back/neck pain and my PT said it is because of my posture and so we're working on that exclusively! I don't know what your insurance is like but I simply went to my GP who is an osteopath and told her I was having some pain and that I wanted physical therapy and she prescribed it to me immediately so it's covered by insurance.

Physical therapists are wonderful. They have a full understanding of every muscle and bone in our body and know how to isolate and target and they do all kinds of exercises ranging from good stretching to strengthening.

Obviously, all the responses here point to exercise like yoga etc. It's the only way, there's no pill for fixing posture. But with PT you can get guided help in fixing this.

My husband keeps reminding me about good posture :) He says I will thank him later. I love to slouch. As an ex ballerina, I should know better.

This.
I slouched my entire life. It's virtually impossible to remember to have good posture as you go through the day. Yoga improved my posture immensely. I think the most helpful was standing in Mountain pose. I learned from a teacher who gave meticulous instruction and watched us to make sure we were doing things correctly---that's essential.

It did not take much time or effort beyond the 2 classes/week to notice an improvement in posture, but I'm sure the more you put into it, the greater the benefit.

Try to make an effort to pull your shoulders back, and just think about how much better you will look with better posture.