Friday, November 08, 2019

Stand up straight

I've never had great posture.  My uncle told me many years ago that I needed to correct my posture or I'd end up like my grandma, who was pretty badly bent over.  I tried to make myself sit and stand straight for a long time after he told me that, but it didn't really help at all.  I didn't feel like I was slouching; it's hard to correct something you're doing if you don't realize you're doing it.

In June of 2017, I found online some simple exercises that were practically guaranteed to fix anyone's posture.  It sounded too good to be true.  The author said it would help correct my bad posture immediately, but that I would need to do them for at least a month, then I could stop.  I'd be fixed.  

Well, the exercises did correct my slouching to a great extent, but after doing them for a couple of months (just for good measure) I stopped.  Because the guy said I could stop after one month.  That's the part that didn't work.  But of course, I didn't KNOW I was back to slouching until a while back Cliff said, "You're walking more bent-over all the time."

So I started the exercises again, this time vowing to keep doing them.  The last time we visited my sister, she noticed I was standing straighter and mentioned it.  That was rewarding.  Then this morning, Cliff happened to get out of bed while I was still standing against the wall doing my exercises and said, "I have to say, that has fixed your slumping."

Really?  I'm serious when I say I cannot tell when my posture is bad.  At all.  If nobody said anything about it, I'd probably stop again.  But it's worth doing something that only takes three minutes out of your day, at least once a day and usually twice, as long as it's doing what it's supposed to.

You'll find the exercises HERE.

If you try this, be sure and read the instructions and do everything the way it says to, such as tuck your chin, and keep the back of your head touching the wall.  Otherwise it won't work.  Also, let me warn you that if your posture is as bad as mine was, this is going to hurt when you first start, and for quite awhile afterward.  You won't believe the places such a simple exercise can make you ache.  But that just assures you that you are doing something right.  

I promise you, it works.  I thought I had blogged about this a couple of years ago, when I did the exercises and quit, and gradually went back to slumping.  However, I did a search using the word "posture" and couldn't find it here.  So I searched on Facebook and there it was, only a little over two years ago.

Yours truly,
Me, sitting up straight right now.

P.S.  I put a new picture taken during my morning walk at the top of my blog.  I love the picture, but no font color shows up well against it.  Oh well, I'll try to get another picture that will show my blog's name a little better before too long.

2 comments:

  1. Good for you for going back to the exercises! I don't think anything is truly permanent. That's why I still wear my retainer, although I had braces 20 years ago and could probably give it up. (but I don't want my teeth to shift back)

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  2. I'm going to try it out. I have a definite computer slouch and it's getting worse. Thanks for the tip!

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