By Maurice
For as long as we can remember, people have been telling us to stand up straight. To sit up in our chairs. Sometimes it’s assumed that people slouch because they’re sloppy or lazy. That’s usually not the case. Poor posture more often results from weakness in the muscles that keep us in an upright position. That’s particularly true for senior citizens.
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Keep in Mind:
Before starting any new exercise(s), we strongly recommend you follow the advice of the National Institute on Aging and consult your doctor.
What are Posture Exercises for Seniors?
If you’re not sitting and standing properly, the answer is not to grit your teeth and try harder. Instead, do some exercises to help the muscle groups that will make it easier. Muscle-building exercises aren’t only for children and younger adults. People of all ages can join in.
Many posture exercises are not difficult. Often they start with a more mindful approach to how we sit and stand, and extend that with a few natural motions that build coordination and muscle tone. They can be standing, sitting or floor exercises, but all of them involve motions that feel natural and improve the way we use our bodies in day-to-day activities.
What are the Benefits of Posture for Seniors?
When you’re been bending forward for a long time, maybe working at a desk or a kitchen counter, what do you do? If you’re like most people, you straighten up, lean back and extend your back and neck. And it feels good, doesn’t it?
A primary benefit of posture exercises is that they make you feel better. You stand taller and straighter after a session.
Posture and balance are an issue for Americans of all ages, but they’re problems that carry more risk for seniors. Also, they prevent injury and deterioration. If poor posture continues without remediation though exercise, if can lead to muscle weakness. There’s a chance of joint pain and even structural change in your bodies. Seniors with poor posture and balance are more likely to fall.
Best Posture Exercises for Seniors
Posture exercises run the gamut from easy to demanding. The good news is that many are easy and gentle for the elderly, and many more require only a moderate amount of strength and agility. Here are 12 that can put you on the road to improved balance and greater enjoyment of the activities of daily life.
Daily Posture Exercises for Seniors
1. Standing Straight: Mountain Pose
Is standing up straight really an exercise? Well, the fact is that most people don’t do it well and can use practice. One of the best ways to stand tall and feel good doing it is with a yoga position called the Mountain Pose.
Do this as the first exercise in a routine, or just to take a healthy break and feel better any time of day.
2. Sitting Straight: Spinal Extensions
You spend more time sitting than standing, so comfortable and proper sitting is even more important.
Take it slow to ensure good balance. If you feel uncomfortably dizzy, skip this one.
Gentle exercises to improve posture for seniors
Here are three more easy routines.
3. Shoulder Rolls
These can be done either sitting or standing. They’re simple and they feel good.
4. Chin Tucks
Another one that can be done sitting or standing. This works the neck. If your neck bends forward improperly, it can throw your entire posture off.
Repeat 10-20 times.
5. Wall Tilts
Back Exercises for Posture for Elderly
For good posture you need muscle tone in many parts of your body. Here are a few that build up the shoulders, arms, legs and hips for their role in good body position.
6. Shoulder Squeezes
These can be done either sitting or standing. They’re simple and they feel good.
This can be done seated either on a bench or sitting well forward in a chair.
It can also be done standing with resistance. Loop a stretchable exercise band around a stair rail or tie a knot in the band and close a door on it. Grab one each of the band in each hand and step backward until there’s moderate tension, then do the squeezes.
7. Arm Ups
Another exercise that can be done either standing or seated in a chair without arms.
8. Knee Pillow Squeeze
You’re going to need a pillow or cushion between your knees. Ideally you want one large enough so that you don’t move your knees from a parallel position. You may need to fold a pillow to double it.
You can do this any time and any place even if you don’t have a pillow. Just use both of your fists between your knees instead.
9. Knee Band Push
The knee squeeze works the posturally important hip adductors. This exercise works the equally important abductors. You’ll need a strong exercise band or a belt.
You can do this without equipment by holding your fists on the outside of your knees and using them to resist the outward movement.
Balance and Posture exercises for Seniors
Here are some more vigorous exercises that may require you to get down on your hands and knees, but they’re well within the reach of most seniors.
10. Bird Dogs
These can be done either sitting or standing. They’re simple and they feel good.
For an easier exercise, lift only the arm or only the leg. For a harder exercise, lift the arm and leg on the same side.
11. Cat and Cow
This classic yoga position not only improves posture and balance but is a great relaxer and stress reliever.
12. Seated Cat and Cow
If you don’t want to get down on the floor, you can do cat and cow in a chair.
Now Watch Your Posture Improve
A great thing about postural exercises is that they make you more aware of your body position and how you’re sitting and standing. If you do a few of these every day, you find that you’re just more naturally carrying yourself with better form and balance. All the hobbies and tasks of daily living are a little easier and a little more enjoyable with the feeling of well-being that comes from good posture.
Even if you can’t find time to do an entire routine, pick a few to try during the day. Pause where you stand or sit to do mountain pose or spinal extensions. Take a quick break to roll and squeeze your shoulders. Work a few beneficial motions into your daily routine and soon you’ll find you stand straighter and feel better.
Supporting Scientific Studies
- 1Training to Reduce Postural Sway and Increase Functional Reach in the Elderly
- 2Improvement of Postural Balance and Trunk Muscle Strength: Effect of Free Exercise, Elastic Band Exercise and Balance Exercise
- 3The Effect Of Core Stabilization Training Program On Elderly Postural Control
- 4Four-week trunk-specific exercise program decreases forward trunk flexion in Parkinson's disease: A single-blinded, randomized controlled trial
- 5Seated Exercise Therapy Improves Posture and Balance in Hyperkyphotic Elderly Females, a Randomized Control Trail
- 6Yoga Decreases Kyphosis in Senior Women and Men with Adult‐Onset Hyperkyphosis: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial
- 7Effects of 8-months yoga training on shaping the spine in people over 55
- 8Effect of a Gentle Iyengar Yoga Program on Gait in the Elderly: An Exploratory Study
- 9The effects of endurance and weight-bearing exercises on reaction time and postural balance in postmenopausal women
- 10Keep Seniors Standing Tall
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