Your body is dynamic, and it's designed to move. To ensure you keep moving at your best longer, here’s what you need to know about the balance of strength and posture and flexibility.

Bottom Line:

Both strength and flexibility play a significant role in how your posture develops. For instance, having both a strong and flexible core helps the body to dynamically adapt to every environment. The spine is not only supported but also moves well, reducing the possibility of injury or pain. While it’s true that "perfect" postures may not exist, improving our strength, flexibility, and ergonomics goes a long way towards improvement.

Why it Matters:

Your body is dynamic, and it's designed to move, but over time it may feel a bit less dynamic than it used to! Getting into a wellness routine that includes exercises that focus on strength and flexibility is a smart way to keep your body feeling young while promoting good posture - a true win-win. Here’s why. Strengthening exercises can help develop proper support for your joints and decrease overall postural stress. Incorporating stretches and exercises that focus on flexibility then help your body maintain the ability to move through its full range of motion.

Did you know…

  • When you focus on increasing muscular flexibility, your posture is likely to improve.

  • Lifting weights strengthens your back, shoulder, and core muscles, which are all essential to standing with proper posture and preventing lower back pain.

  • Stretching your muscles and joints also leads to a greater range of motion, improved balance, and increased flexibility.

Next Steps:

Remember, postural stress can add up over time. Just because you're not currently in pain doesn't mean that everything is functioning at its highest level or that your daily wellness routine is as optimized as it could be. Our team specializes in all things posture and providing comprehensive individualized care plans - adjustments, stretches, exercises, and all! Schedule an appointment today if you'd like to learn more about all the ways we’re helping the people in your community achieve an ideal balance of strength and posture and flexibility. Our doors are open, and we’re here for you.

Our favorite strength and flexibility exercises:

Poor posture is something we see every day in our chiropractic office in Centennial, Colorado. Schedule an appointment today to see how we can help you get back in action!

Remember: these exercises are for demonstrative purposes only and if you are having pain or limitations, be sure to get checked out by a qualified healthcare provider.

LAT/T-SPINE OPENER ON BENCH

This one feels great! I like to throw this stretch in as part of my warm up for any overhead lifting or Olympic weightlifting.

INCHWORM + 4-WAY TAP

If you’ve ever had a personal training session in this office, there’s a good chance this exercise was included in your warm up. This movement tackles a few aspects: Loaded shoulder flexion, hamstring stretching, thoracic spine extension, ankle dorsiflexion, and others! A very versatile exercise! You can even use it in the workout for training shoulder flexion under fatigue.

SCIENCE SOURCE(S): WHY BEING FLEXIBLE IS GREAT FOR YOUR HEALTH. HEALTHLINE. 2020.