Corrective Exercises - Do These Now!

 In my never ending quest to deconstruct the latest rhetorical trends in fitness, one of the newest trends is the use of the word “corrective” in front of an exercise. In the past, therapists and fitness professionals would call an exercise a “postural exercise” when it was designed to stretch shortened muscles so that a person could achieve better alignment of the spine, pelvis, shoulders, or other area of the body. Another postural exercise would be one that strengthened over-stretched or weak postural muscles to give support to the spine. Nowadays, the lingo is “corrective exercise”. Whatever, I personally don’t like to think that people need correction, except in parochial schools. I think postural exercise sounds better in that it doesn’t have any negative connotation to it, and really it is about good posture that needs attention to always, rather than just fixing a mistake. For most people, bad posture is an ingrained habit. It comes from lack of awareness and poor mechanics. You can’t correct ingrained habits just from doing a particular exercise. Many therapeutic modalities have been created, such as Alexander, Feldenkreis, Hanna Somatics, etc., to help deal with the subconscious roots of poor posture and improper mechanics of how we move and hold ourselves. As in my Yogilates method, it begins with awareness and relaxing of unnecessary tensions. I can’t fully describe the methods that these different techniques utilize, but my point is that they all include the deepening of the mind/body connection and are much more than just exercises. I believe that they are also more integrative than “corrective” in that one is encouraged to listen to their body and is informed by how their own body responds. True integrative fitness is one that empowers the client to own their body and the condition it is in, and encourages them to visualize for themselves how to achieve release from bad habits and maintain good form, and to see themselves in a more positive and healthier light.

The images at the top are for the following three postural exercises that I have found most of us can truly benefit from on a daily basis

1. Wall Neck Lean:

Stand with your back against the wall. Place the back of your head against the wall making sure the top of your head and bottom of your chin are level. Keep you body in straight line and walk your legs away from the wall about a foot. Stay leaning in this position for 1 minute.

Benefit: Strengthens muscles in back of neck that get over-stretched and weakened from poor head position while working at computer. Helps mitigate forward head position.

2. Shoulder Blade Pinch:
Standing of sitting, clasp your hands behind your back and push your arms straight while you roll your shoulders back. You should feel your shoulder blades coming together and your thoracic spine push forward. Hold for two full breaths, then relax your shoulders back to neutral. Repeat and, if possible, reach the arms up for more stretch and hold 10 seconds.
Benefit: Stretches front shoulder and chest area and extends thoracic spine. This mitigates internal rotation of arms and hunched upper back.

3. Straight Leg Bridge on Box or Couch:
Lying on the ground, place your feet up on a 12 inch high box. You can also use the edge of your couch. Turn out your legs and keep the heels close together. Hold for 10 seconds, then roll the spine down. Repeat.
Benefit: Strengthens lower back and gluteal muscles which get over-stretched and weakened from poor posture while sitting for long periods.