6 Exercises to Improve Your Posture Getting that Spine Straight

Going through the grind of our daily routines, we often neglect to take care of ourselves like we should, especially our body posture. Sitting all day on that non-ergonometric chair of your office desk, you often have thought about some exercises you can do instantly while being in your work space. Well, turns out there are a few, and I’ll be sharing some of them with you as they have helped me a lot. But before delving deep into this, I would like to advise you to have some accessories with you, in fact we can call them exercise essentials, from a legit and genuine brand like OneLast, bringing you quality products for the past good number of years. I, myself, have tried some of their products and found them to be quite “good”, especially their rolling accessories like the peanut, the circle and the classic roller have aided me a lot in doing my daily stretch and exercise as they can also be used as weights. 

Studying the anatomy of our spines in a bit detail reveals that it is made up of individual discs, stacked on top of each other, more like some Jenga blocks, 33 of them to be accurate. The default posture of our spine is straight up right but obviously, while running those essential daily errands of ours, we tend to keep it bent for some good number of hours, hence adding more and more pressure in the form of added weight on it. Speaking scientifically, for every inch we move our neck forward (in a forward head posture), our sine bears an additional 10 pounds of weight. Well, I guess this should solve the mystery for all the neck and spine pain that you often have after a long day at the office.  

• Don’t Forget To Move!

The very first tip I can give you in this regard is to keep moving throughout the day, take short breaks in between your work sessions, like five minutes after every 45 minutes. Doing so will relieve your body of the added pressure that you might have built due to the bent posture on your seat. 

To relieve your body, especially your spine and neck of all the pressure, you need to stretch it in all the six directions, to allow for the extension, flexion, rotation, side bending and the hip and arm stretching as well. Similarly, taking long and deep breaths before and after your brief exercise session can also help you a lot in getting relaxed and straightening your spine. 

• Seated Cow or Cat Stretch

Alright, so the very first one is what we call the seated cow or cat posture. It is quite simple, and you can easily do this while sitting at your work chair. You need to start by placing your hands on your knees and breathing deeply. This is to relax your body and mind and align them for the exercise. Then you need to lift up a round object, like the OneLast Circle, made specifically for these exercises. And while lifting the circle, you need to inhale deeply and push your diaphragm outside, as much as you can easily. Similarly, while exhaling you need to gradually lower the OneLast Circle with slow arm movement while tucking down your chin and rounding your spine. 

• Seated Rotation Stretch

Very similar to the one mentioned before, you need to start by lifting the OneLast Roller in your hands and lifting it upwards at an angle of 90 degrees, more or less, this needs to be done while inhaling. On exhaling, you need to drop down the OneLast Roller gradually, first to your left knee and thigh and then to your right knee and thigh, as far as you can. This exercise allows for the necessary rotation to get rid of all the rotational tension in your vertebrates. 

• Seated Side Bend Stretch

For this exercise, you need to hold the OneLast Peanut in your hand and raise your hand up towards the sky while inhaling deeply. While exhaling, you need to lower your arms and bend them sideways first to your left foot and then to your right foot. It is preferable to do this in the reps of three. Care should be taken that you need to lower the arms at the same speed you raised them, slowly and gently. 

• Seated Forearm Stretch

This one is pretty simple and the experts at OneLast have especially designed it for students and office workers who spend so many hours of the day with a bent spine, focusing on those books, files and screens. It requires you to simply grab the base of your chair by one hand, let it be the left hand and while keeping your spine all straight you need to stretch as much as you can easily towards the other side, right hand side. Then you have to repeat the same for the other side as well. This exercise relieves your side muscles from all the tension accumulated in them throughout the day. 

• Seated Shoulder Stretch 

This one caters to your lower arm and shoulder. Grab the back support of your chair while passing your arm above your head and stretch it as per your comfort. Then repeat the same for the other arm. Doing so will relax your shoulders and rejuvenates you on the whole account. 

Well, these were some of the exercises I shortlisted and figured out to be “really” working for me, over the past couple of years. I hope you find them helpful. Let me know what you do to relax yourself in the middle of your day besides a good lunch and a power nap. Do let me know!