1- Perform myofascial stretching of your internal rotator of the shoulder
The muscle tensions in your internal rotators such as the pectoralis major, minor, the latissimus dorsi, front delt and more negatively affects your posture. By doing myofascial stretching, you will release the muscle tensions that pulls you forward. The myofascial stretching compared to the regular stretching stretch the whole fascia from the toes to the fingers, stretching the muscle and the wrapping around it at full capacity. Therefore, you will obtain faster and better results that way. For further information about myofascial stretching, consult our article What is the best technique for stretching.
2- Strengthen your external rotators of the shoulder
Obviously this goes hand in hand with what I said in the first point. If we stretch the anterior muscles, it will allow us to work better and strengthen more efficiently the posterior chains. Most of the external rotators are postural and therefore slow-twitch muscles that should be worked accordingly in a higher rep-range. The muscle targets should be : the infraspinatus, teres minor, rhomboids, lower and medial trapezius, etc. These are small muscles and must be worked with accuracy, thus increase the weight gradually. At the Axellite Comprehensive Health center, we use the PlateMates that allow us to increase the weight by 5/8 pounds, so we can make small increments. To order PlateMates, visit : http://www.theplatemate.com/ .
3- Move !
The best way to develop postural problems as well as neck or back pain is the famous office work. Do not sit at the computer for more than an hour straight. Enjoy your breaks by walking outside even if it is as less as 5 minutes, that will help tremendously. You should also do your myofascial stretches at home after a busy day at the office.
4- Train your abdominals !
To avoid lower back pain, it is very important to frequently train your abdominals. A weakness of these muscles will make your pelvis to tilt forward, increasing your lumbar lordosis and obviously the compression of the discs. By working seated all day long weakens your abs, so people doing office work should put even more effort into their abdominals training!
5- Try Posturology !
Posturology is a new medicine that has the sole purpose of correcting your posture and to reduce your pain due to joint blockages and myofascial hypertonicity. By recalibrating the sensors of the body, the two most important being the eye and foot, we will have a direct effect on your tonic postural system. For further information about posturology, which is a service that we offer here at Axellite Comprehensive health, please consult our service page.
We now offer myofascial and ELDOA group sessions on tuesdays at 6h30 PM and thursdays at 12h00 PM !
Vincent Paradis
Axellite Comprehensive Health