If you are like the majority of people recent days, you might spend a lot of time on looking at your computer’s screen and phone, etc. And of course, your back bears lots of burden. This cause poor posture, and your shoulders have to round forward, making your appear shorter than you really are. Thus, it is better to fix your posture and stand tall by following some ways on how to straighten spine posture. Before getting to know such ways, you should acknowledge some basic information about poor posture from TrueRemedies.com.
What Are Causes Of Poor Posture?
It is estimated that millions of Americans suffer from bad posture and the pain resulted from it. Poor posture could lead to anything from shoulder and back pain to frequent headaches. By understanding the causes of poor posture, you can correct the condition.
- Fatigue: Many children are recommended to “stand up straight” to have good posture. While keeping the back tall and straight is the best way to get good posture, it also becomes increasingly hard if you try to hold this position longer. The muscles which support your back will finally get tired and lead to the shoulders and spin to sink lower, thereby worsening posture. Thus, it is better to not hold one position for too long.
- Foot placement: If your foot placement is not in a comfortable, natural position, your posture will be affected. The typical position of poor posture is feet which are naturally rolled inward, causing the back to slough and the knees to bend. If you keep your feet maintained in this position for a long time, it will tire out your whole body, causing further poor posture. Thus, warrant that you keep your feet upright and you wear supportive and comfortable shoes to improve their placement.
- Obesity: having extra weight in your abdominal area could cause problems, such as lower back pulled forwards by the stomach weight.
- Lifestyle and fashion: shoes and clothing particularly impact posture. Women who use pencil heels are more likely to have posture problems. In addition to high heeled shoes, wearing tightly fitting clothes, boots or low waist jeans as well as wide belts could lead to poor posture. Once you wear something uncomfortable such as high heeled shoes, or wide belts, this will modify your centre of gravity, ultimately harming your posture.
- Age: Because posture is mainly based on the muscle support of your legs and spine. When your age, your posture could become worse. Age could weaken muscles, thereby making it more difficult to maintain a good posture. To decrease the effect of age on your posture, you should follow some tips and exercises which could strengthen your lower back.
20 Tips On How To Straighten Spine Posture Naturally At Home To Improve Posture
1. Practice Exercises
Fix your posture by doing the exercises mentioned here:
Exercise 1:
- Lie down on the floor with chest upwards
- Raise your left knee about 90 degree while bending your right leg
- Keep calm and breathe slowly for about 30 seconds
Exercise 2: Cobra pose
- Lie on your belly, with elbows bent under the palms and shoulders, face down
- Slowly breathe and visualize as if you are opening your front ribcage, then reverse your posture of slouching
- Inhale, press the torso up, then lift the chest
- Lift your elbows off the floor about 3-5 inches
- While exhaling, contract the glute muscles towards the upper thighbones
- Inhale, pull the chest forwards, which helps widen the sternum between collarbones
- Feel the upper abdominal muscles and solar plexus widening.
- Feel the neck lengthening posteriorly, anteriorly, and bi-laterally. Do not hang your head forwards, craning back or looking down. You should not feel pinch anywhere along the neck
Exercise 3: M-move
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This is a simple resistance band exercise, which takes just about 2 minutes each day, 5 times per week. It helps reduce your shoulder and neck pain, improving your posture.
- Stand and stagger the feet to let one leg slightly behind the other
- Grasp the ends or the handles of resistance band, lift the arms upwards and slightly outward away from your body approximately 30 degrees
- Slightly bend the elbows, and stop at the shoulder level
- Keep that position and return
- Make sure that you keep your shoulder blades both down and back straight
- Do this exercise for 2 minutes per day, 5 days per week
Exercise 4: How To Straighten Spine – Wall Angels
Among exercises on how to straighten spine naturally, this exercise will help strengthen your abs and back. Also, it is a good test to help judge your range of motion. You will see how far you have come after several weeks or months.
- Stand straight with back pressed against the wall and your feet several inches away from it.
- Contact the core muscles
- Raise the arms up, elbow bent, hands’ back against the wall
- Extend the arms overhead so that it can get as far as you could without letting your back arch away from the wall
- Return to the beginning position and repeat this routine for 2 sets of 10 repititions
Exercise 5: Pigeon toes
This exercise aims to fix people who have weak glutes.
- Stand with heels together, knees bent 90 degrees
- Keep the hips still whilst separating your knees as a clamshell, raise the top knee upward
- Stop for 5 seconds and lower the knee to the beginning position
- Repeat this routine for 2-3 sets of 6-12 times each
Exercise 6: How To Straighten Spine – Forward Head
This exercise will help you improve your spine and neck. It is suitable for people with weak front neck muscles. Take the steps below:
- Lie down with your chest upwards
- Lift the head up for about 5 seconds
- Do this routine for 2-3 sets
- Repeat this 12 times a day to get good results
Exercise 7: Hunched Back
This exercise is designed for those with weak back muscles.
- Lie with your face down, arms at your sides
- Lift your hands and chest slightly off the floor
- Squeeze the shoulder blades whilst keeping chin down
- Remain this position for 5 seconds
- Do this routine from 2-3 sets
- Repeat it for 12 times each day
2. Sleep With Pillows And Mattresses
There are some tips for your to straighten your spine naturally by sleeping with pillows and mattresses.
- If you sleep on your side, then place a flat pillow between legs to keep your spine aligned and straight
- Put a rolled-up towel under your neck and a pillow under the knees to help support your spine much better
- Take advantage of a pillow to give your head, shoulders and head appropriate support and alignment
- Sleep on your back or your side to make it more comfortable for your back
- Use a relatively firm mattress to support your back, if possible.
3. How To Straighten Spine – Wear Quality Shoes
The human feet are important for good posture as they are the foundation for your whole body. So, you should wear sturdy shoes with proper arch support, plenty of room for toes, and slightly raised heel (about ½ to ¾ of an inch).
Do not regularly wear high heeled shoes as they impact the gravity of the center of your body while inducing compensatory alignment of the whole body. They could lead to much extension in your lumbar spine.
If you have heavy weight or have a short leg or flat feet, you can use orthotics (custom-made shoe inserts) of the heel lifts. They will help promote your healthy spine by giving a support to the arches and better biomechanics upon walking or running. Orthotics is often made by medical specialists, podiatrists, and chiropractors.
4. Take Enough Essential Nutrients
The next tip on how to straighten spine naturally at home is taking enough essential nutrients. Certain nutrients are necessary. Minerals such as magnesium, calcium, and boron form the mineral matrix bone, so if you lack some of these nutrients, your bones will become brittle and susceptible to fractures (aka osteoporosis). Among these nutrients, vitamin D is very important for bone health. A lack of this vitamin will make your bones soft and easily deformable.
The vitamin D is created naturally by your skin when you expose to the intense summer sunshine.
It is recommended to take about 1,000 – 1,200 mg of calcium per day, depending on your age. The good natural sources for calcium are kale, collards, sardines, spinach, tofu, sesame seeds and almonds.
5. Get Chiropractic Adjustment
If you follow regular treatment from a chiropractor or osteopath, it will help treat your spinal pain and keep you better aligned. Chiropractors use a kind of physical manipulation named spinal adjustment that can realign / unjam your spine’s small facet joints. However, spinal adjusting could not reverse the scoliosis, but it could be crucial for keeping normal spinal curvatures [1].
By following the adjustment of spinal joints, it might lead to a popping (sounds like that of cracking the knuckles). This noise is the result of the change of pressure in the joint, making gas bubbles be released.
6. How To Straighten Spine – Get A Massage
Get a shoulder, back or neck massage from a qualified professional. This will help decrease muscle tension, which might be useful for straightening your spine if your muscles are tight and surrounding or attached to the spinal column. Also, massage can reduce stress, which is usually a contributing factor in the condition of bad posture, particularly of the upper parts of the body.
Massage could squeeze lactic acid, compounds and toxins leading to inflammation out of muscles as well as other soft tissues, and also into your bloodstream. Thus, drink plenty of water to remove them from your body.
Many massage therapists apply reflexology – the stimulation of foot’s parts to help improve your health. You should ask your therapist to stimulate the joints related to spinal health.
Read more: 29 Home Remedies For Arthritis Pain In Fingers, Back & Legs
7. Use Physiotherapy
When it comes to ways on how to straighten spine, you can follow tailored stretches and strengthening exercises for good results. If necessary, you can treat your spinal muscles with electrotherapy like electronic muscle stimulation or therapeutic ultrasound. Such exercises focus on the back extensors, pelvic muscles and neck flexors which are important for good posture.
If your muscles become sore when following these exercise or massage, then you can take a bath with Epsom salt. Due to magnesium content, it is great for relieving pain and tense muscles.
8. Deep Breathing
It is rather strange when it comes to learning how to straighten spine to use deep breathing. But, it really works with miracle effects. This is familiar with those who have practiced yoga exercises. Deep breathing will let the nerves function more efficiently in spinal channels. Start this tip by placing your hand on the belly area. Focus on the elasticity of your belly when inhaling and exhaling. Do this exercise daily as much as you could as it is so easy and simple to practice anywhere else. It does not give any adverse effects as well.
9. How To Straighten Spine – Posture When Sitting On The Chair
To know how to straighten spine naturally, you need to acknowledge how to sit the right way on the chair to avoid affecting your spine. Here are some tips:
- Sit in order to make your back aligned against the chair’s back. Do not lean forwards or slouching, especially if you are tired of sitting for a long time
- Choose to use the office chair which is designed ergonomically in order to support the back properly. The chair should also have a custom fit.
- Put you arms at a 75o– 90o angle of the elbows when sitting on the office chair at the desk. Or, you can choose the chair which can be adjusted accordingly.
- Keep the knees even with the hips and a little bit higher when sitting
- Keep feet flat on the floor or use a footrest with the office chair
- Keep shoulders straight
- Do not sit for a long time even the chair is good. Walk around for relaxing.
10. Posture When Standing
In regard to tips on how to straighten spine, many of us may overlook how to stand the right way. But, it also impacts your spine if you do not stand properly for a long time. To have the right standing posture, check out some tips below:
- Avoid standing with your weight distributed on between your heels and feet’s balls
- Keep feet apart slightly, pointing outward slightly, arms naturally hang down the sides of your body
- Do not lock your knees
- Tuck your belly in and do not allow the pelvis roll forwards
- Keep the shoulders back, do not let them slump forwards
- Keep your head up straight with chin tucked in
- Look straight ahead
- Shift weight from one foot to another, rock from the heels to toes if you have to stand for a long time
11. How To Straighten Spine – Posture When Walking
Walking posture is very important for healthy spine. Good walking posture will make your look leaner, longer, and fitter. It is considered an immediate upgrade for no cost, just some practice as well as mindfulness.
- Stand up straight by visualizing being straight and tall, like a tree. Avoid arching your back.
- Avoid leaning back or forwards because leaning will put strain on your back muscles when you walk. Do not lean except when walking on hill.
- Keep your eyes forwards, do not look down. Focus should be approximately 20 feet ahead of you.
- Chin up that is parallel to the floor. This will reduce the strain on your back and neck.
- Shoulders relaxed and back. Let your shoulders fall and relax with shoulders back slightly. By loosening up your shoulders, you will relieve tension, and give them a position to have a good arm motion whilst walking.
- Suck in the belly. The core abdominal muscles will help you maintain healthy posture and resist leaning and slouching. Maintain your belly pulled in slightly to help you have good walking posture.
12. Posture When Driving
- Keep your seat height as high as you could go comfortably. This will help keep you sustain complete vision of the street / road, your head will not hit the root of the car, and your feet can reach the foot pedals comfortably.
- Use a lumbar support. The majority of cars nowadays are properly fitted with the lumbar support in seat which could be customized according to the shape of your back. This lumbar support will preserve your lower back’s neutral arch. In case your car does not have in-built lumbar support, use a small pillow or rolled up towel to replace it [2].
- Stretch when sitting. It means you sit in a specific way that can help stretch your spine. It is recommended because most of the back issues of us are due to the excessive compression along our spine. To stretch when sitting, you should follow these steps: tuck the pelvis to the seat’s back direction; tilt the lower ribs down to help elongate your spine; place the hands on two sides of the seat, put down when bending forwards; hinge backward till the middle of the upper back is gently hooked onto the seat; relax the arms and reposition the shoulders by rolling backwards.
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13. Posture When Carrying / Lifting Things
To know how to straighten spine naturally, you should also acknowledge the way to properly carry or lift things.
- Do not use your lower back for lifting, instead use large stomach muscles or your legs for this purpose
- Bend at your knees, not your waist
- Get a supportive belt to maintain healthy posture upon lifting if in need
- Keep a large / heavy object close to your chest if you have to carry it
- Switch your arm often if you have to carry something with one arm
- When carrying a backpack or a purse, keep it as a light as possible. Balance the weight on two sides. You could also alternate from side to side.
- When carrying a backpack, do not round the shoulders or lean forwards. In case your backpack is heavy, consider using the rolling backpack having wheels.
14. How To Straighten Spine – Posture When Sleeping
It is estimated that over 40% of Americans sleep less than they ought to, leaving them bleary, weary and at greater risk for depression, high blood pressure, weight gain, and some chronic health issues [3].
- When it comes to good sleeping positions, you should sleep in a position that can help you maintain the curve in lower back. It is recommended to lie on the back with pillow under the knees or on your side with knees bent slightly.
- Sleep on your side with spine straight
- Do not sleep on your side with knees drawn up to the chest. But, some back conditions might find this position preferable.
For those having back pain, try lie over a lumbar roll / peanut cushion at nigh to help you feel more comfortable. Or, a towel tied around your waist might be helpful for your sleeping position. - You should select a firm mattress or an ensemble which does not sag. Place a board under the mattress. If you have slept on the soft surface, it might be painful to modify to a harder surface.
- When rinsing from your bed, you had better turn on your side, then draw up two knees and swing the legs over the bed’s sides. Sit up by pushing the body up with your hands. Bend forwards at your waist with your activated core muscles.
To sum up, the best sleeping or lying position might vary, basing on your problems and symptoms.
The 20 ways on how to straighten spine above hopefully have helped you figure out the necessary steps to plan a healthy regime for fixing your spine at home without surgery. They are not only simple to follow but also effective and require no special equipment. Thus, it is no reason to not applying some of them for straight spine and strong muscles.
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