Concerned about developing an unflattering curvature in your spine as you get older? Many people find that they become increasingly hunched over as they get older. Even if they try to stand straight, they find themselves slumping back again after a short while.

If this describes you, you might consider wearing a posture brace throughout the day, and also  taking up an exercise routine to strengthen your posture support muscles, reverse bad posture, and prevent back pain. According to one recent study, yoga might offer a way to relieve or even reverse bad posture and the early stages of hunchback, a common source of back pain.

Conducted by researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles and published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the study aimed to determine whether yogic corrective posture exercises could reduce hyperkyphosis or kyphosis.

Kyphosis, or in common terms: hunchback, is the forward rounding of the upper back. A slight rounding is normal, but severe rounding–more than 40 to 45 degrees–is termed hyperkyphosis in medical language.

Not all people who develop hyperkyphosis appear to have a hunchback. Your back may appear normal, other than the pronounced slump. Whether you develop a hunchback or not, hyperkyphosis is a serious condition. It can occur for a variety of reasons: developmental problems, osteoporosis with vertebral compression fractures, spinal trauma, or degenerative diseases such as arthritis. Kyphosis doesn’t just prey on the elderly; it can affect otherwise healthy adults, adolescents, and even children.

While mild kyphosis may go unnoticed for years, as the condition worsens a whole slew of painful and even life-threatening symptoms sets in. Severe kyphosis often causes back pain, and it puts pressure on the lungs, strain on the nerves, and can damage tissues and other organs, causing pain and all sorts of problems.

Treatment for kyphosis will vary based on the cause of the curvature and its damaging effects.

Symptoms of kyphosis include:

• Fatigue
• Slouching posture or hunchback
• Spinal stiffness or tenderness
• Mild back pain

In the early stages or in the most mild cases, kyphosis may not produce noticeable symptoms.

Yoga Improves Bad Posture

The kyphosis study conducted by the researchers took 168 women and men age 60 and older, who had a kyphosis angle of 40° or greater. Major exclusions were made for the use of assistive device, serious medical comorbidity, inability to hear or see adequately for participation, and inability to pass a physical safety screen.

The members of the study participated in a two-group, 6-month, controlled, randomized, single-masked trial in a community research unit.

One group, the “treatment group” attended a one-hour yoga class for 3 days each week over the course of 24 weeks. The control group received regular mailings and attended a luncheon seminar each month.

At the end of the six months, the study did find a difference in the two groups. Those in the yoga-practicing treatment group experienced a 4.4% improvement in flexicurve kyphosis angle and a kyphosis index improvement of 5%, while the control group showed no improvement. However, the practicing the corrective posture exercises did not display any statistically significant improvement in Debrunner kyphometer angle measurement, physical performance measurements, or self-assessed health-related quality of life.

The study concluded that the improved results in flexicurve kyphosis angle of the yoga treatment group demonstrate that Hyperkyphosis can be treated, a significant finding on the road to developing treatments or prevention methods.

The researchers anticipate that future studies will compare the effects of yoga to other intervening methods for kyphosis and hyperkyphosis. It is possible that using longitudinally precise measures of kyphosis while focusing on individuals with more mutable spines could enhance the effects of treatment for forward head posture.

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Sitting in front of a computer all day may seem like an easy job for your body, but in actuality, the desk posture we slump into at the office can create strain, soreness, and even chronic neck and back pain.

If you suffer from chronic neck pain, shoulder pain, or back pain, you may find that it helps to wear a corrective posture brace during the work hours. Posture braces can be a great way to remind the body of how it should hold itself: shoulders back, spine erect along its proper curve, neck straight. This alignment counteracts the unnatural pressures created by poor desk posture and provides much needed relief to those back, neck, and shoulder muscles. Although a posture brace may seem uncomfortably stiff at first, by helping to correct your posture, it can provide long-term pain relief in the long run.

Even better, a posture brace offers other benefits as well. As your posture improves, so does your overall appearance—who doesn’t want the confident, regal bearing that comes with good posture? Wearing a corrective posture brace for a couple of hours throughout the day also gives you a good workout even as you sit at your desk. A good posture support brace encourages the postural muscles in your body to engage, toning the core muscles of the body and even burning a small amount of extra calories per day.

For best results, wear your posture brace for twenty to thirty minutes at a time, three to five times throughout the workday. It’s important to also work at keeping a good desk posture while you wear your brace, so you’ll find that there is a limit to how long you can wear the posture brace in each sitting. Wearing a brace for longer periods of time will tend to make you forget about it and slip back into your slump despite the brace, which of course, isn’t the result you’re looking to get.

For fastest results, engage in some type of core strengthening exercise, such as yoga, Pilates, the Alexander Technique, the Egoscue Method, when you’re off work. These types of exercise will further help develop the core muscles that hold your body in its proper, strain-free alignment. Regular practice of posture corrective exercises can supplement posture brace wear, structuring a strong, healthy, pain-free back.

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If you’re looking to improve bad posture, give yourself a pat on the back. Improving your posture will not just make you look taller and more confident, reversing bad posture can increase your energy and well-being immensely. Here are four ways to improve posture throughout the day without spending any great lengths of time.

1. Adapt posture supportive daily habits . One of the greatest influences on posture is how you sit, stand, and move throughout the day. If you sit a lot, educate yourself on proper sitting habits. Here is a helpful video on proper desk posture.

2. Do corrective posture exercises. Learning proper office posture and integrating active sitting and corrective posture exercises in your daily routine will go a long way towards reversing bad posture.

3. Consider using a posture support brace. While not a panacea in and of itself, a posture brace can be a great reminder to sit and stand straight.

4. Do reverse stretching to reshape bad posture. This is one of the most overlooked ways to improve posture. In reverse stretching, you put your body in the opposite shape of your habitual holding patterns. If you stay in the position for 5-10 minutes, you’ll gradually begin to reshape the connective tissue that keeps you locked into a bad posture.

In our next post, we’ll review some of the different types of fitness equipment for reverse stretching. 

Technorati Tags: Bad Posture, Desk Posture, Forward Head Posture, Improve Bad Posture, Office Posture, posture brace, Posture Support

We see this more and more around us. If you’re over the age of 45, or even just sit for long hours at your desk every day, you may even see it in the mirror. Judging from the rising number of searches on the internet for posture braces and posture correctors, this is an issue of increasing concern for many people.

Wouldn’t it be nice if correcting posture were as simple as purchasing a posture support brace? Unfortunately, although braces do have their place in posture back support, they are not sufficient to correct the underlying problem that leads to poor posture.

Important Cons of Posture Support Braces

Perhaps the most significant issue with posture support braces is the fact that they do not treat the cause of poor posture. 

Poor posture is caused by bad posture habits, which weaken core posture support muscles, cause the spine to become misaligned, and, over time, freezes your back into an imbalanced posture, putting unnatural strain on the body.

While at first a posture support brace might seem like the ideal way to relieve some of this strain and reverse posture decay, most posture correctors  do nothing to develop the muscles necessary to actually correct the root problem.

Weaker posture braces simply lose their effectiveness within 10-15 minutes, as your body adapts to the straps and fall back into its slump. Stronger posture support braces are not the solution either, however. If a posture brace is too strong, it can cause your muscles to weaken further, since it takes over what little job your muscles were still doing to hold up your body. Because strong posture braces eventually weaken posture support muscles, longterm use can lead to even greater back pain problems down the road.

The Pros of Posture Support Braces

This doesn’t mean that posture braces are completely without merit. Posture braces for the lower back can provide temporary protection for your lower back, particularly while you are healing from lower back pain. Just don’t use the brace permanently and make sure that you also do posture corrective exercises to permanently strengthen your lower back.

When it comes to braces that provide upper back posture support and shoulder support, the story is a little different. The main use of braces that provide posture support for your upper back is as a reminder to keep your posture straight. If you use the pressure of the brace straps to help you remember to straighten up, a posture support brace can be of great use. It will serve to remind your body of what good posture feels like, enlivening muscle memory for better alignment, and strengthening your core posture support muscles in the process.

In summary, you need to use a two-pronged approach to develop greater core posture support. Use corrective posture exercises to develop the muscles necessary to hold your spine in its natural position, and a posture brace to remind your body during the day what exactly that natural position is. When used as a gentle prompter to straighten up, a posture support brace can make every minute of the day an opportunity to strengthen your back and your core posture muscles.

You still have to do the basic work, however. Only you, no external posture aid, can help you strengthen your core support muscles, realign your posture, and gradually regain your natural postural grace. Given the long-term health benefits of retaining a good posture, however, it is well worth it.

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