Improve Your Health With 4 Simple Exercises
By David Morton

Incorrect or bad posture not only makes you feel bad physically, it also makes you feel bad emotionally. If you see yourself as a badly bent pretzel, your self image suffers. Guess what? You can change that impression by doing a few simple things. Okay, maybe you will never stand or sit a hundred percent straight. But you can improve your posture significantly if you have the desire and the means. Below are the means, the desire is up to you. Remember everything takes time, so give yourself the time. Time to do the exercises, and time for the exercises to start kicking in. Time to re-invent yourself.

1. Knee Squeezes
Sit on the edge of a firm chair, and arch your back by rolling your hips forward. Make sure your feet are flat on the floor shoulder width apart. Fold a pillow between your knees. Gently squeeze the pillow for 5 to10 seconds, at the same time gently pull your shoulder blades together and lift your head up tall with your chin parallel to the floor. Do 2 to 3 sets of 5 repetitions with a 5 to 10 second hold at least once per day.

2. Sitting Floor
Sit on the floor with your head and shoulders touching the wall. Place your palms face up resting on your upper thigh with your elbows tucked to your sides and your legs straight out in front. Your toes should be pointing up towards the ceiling. Gently pull your toes back towards your groin, tighten your thighs (pushing knees down towards floor), gently squeeze shoulder blades together and lift your head up tall with a gentle chin tuck. Hold this position 5 to 10 seconds and do 2 to 3 sets of 5 repetitions at least once per day.

3. Heel Drop
Simply stand on a step with your feet parallel and shoulder width apart, hold on to the railing or another object for support, and move your feet backward until your heels are just off the step and unsupported by the stair. Let the weight of your body press down into your heels until you feel a stretch in the muscles of the back of the leg, gently pull your shoulder blades towards each other and lift your head up tall as if standing at attention (chin tuck). Do 2-3 sets of 5 repetitions with a 5 to 10 second hold at least once per day (twice a day is better). This exercise will re-establish the kinesiological balance from the ankles all the way up to the neck. An added goal, as you progress and begin to find this exercise easier to do, is to bring your heels back to parallel to the step and lift even higher. Hold for at least 10 seconds, working towards 20 seconds, three times.

CAUTION: Be careful with the leg stretch component. Should you feel any discomfort, such as pain or burning to the tendon just behind and above the ankle (Achilles Tendon) discontinue these exercises immediately and consult your health care professional.

4. Wall Back
Stand with your back to a wall with your feet as close to the wall as you can. Without bending the knees attempt to flatten your lower back to the wall. It can be visualized as a piece of two by four wood on the outside of the hips. The top part of the wood goes toward the wall while the bottom part goes out. This is also called a pelvic tilt. Hold this position for a count of ten, relax and repeat again. When finished this time walk away from the wall holding that posture. Really great for those constant achy low backs.