Back & Neck Pain Exercise 5 Posture Training Exercises to Reduce Pain and Sagging By Anne Asher, CPT facebook linkedin Anne Asher, ACE-certified personal trainer, health coach, and orthopedic exercise specialist, is a back and neck pain expert. Learn about our editorial process Anne Asher, CPT Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Erin Pereira, DPT, OCS on September 08, 2020 linkedin Erin Pereira, PT, DPT, is a board-certified clinical specialist in orthopedic physical therapy. Learn about our Medical Review Board Erin Pereira, DPT, OCS on September 08, 2020 Print Posture — a word that inspires action with its mere utterance. Did you know that correcting posture requires skill? Most people think that good posture is simply a matter of sitting up straight and pulling their shoulders back when they remember to do so. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Posture-related back pain is often caused by the strength-to-flexibility ratio between the opposing muscle groups — all over your body — that hold you upright. Add to this the fact that in every area of the spine unique anatomical mechanisms are at work, and you may agree with me that achieving good posture requires technique. Below are the basics on posture. The ideas presented here may help you correct yours with exercise and training. 1 Bring Your Head Over Your Neck and Shoulders wetcake / Getty Images Kyphosis is a postural issue in which your upper back rounds excessively. It is often a result of day in — day out habits such as sitting at the computer for 8 hours at a time. People with kyphosis tend to have another problem called forward head posture. When the upper back rounds, it naturally takes the head forward of the shoulders. (In the correct position, ears are aligned with the shoulders.) To be able to see what's in front you, you lift your head so that your eyes meet the horizon. It's a reflexive action. We all do it (if we have kyphosis, that is). The result may be tight and weak neck muscles, and pain. If this sounds like something you want to fix (or nip in the bud) try a neck exercise for forward head posture. 2 Exercise Your Upper Back Muscles Henrik Sorensen / Getty Images When muscles become tight, weak, and/or overstretched, they lose their ability to work with other muscles to support your upper back posture. When you slump for too long, the pec muscles at the front of your chest get really tight — this is due to rounding your spine. At the same time, the upper back muscles become overstretched. Posture training that works the rhomboid muscles in the back and stretches the pec groups in front may help you deal with this. A simple action like squeezing your shoulder blades together may be the best upper back posture exercise for such a dilemma. Along the same lines, here are a few other things you can do to balance out your upper back muscles. 3 Separate Your Ribs From Your Pelvis yodiyim / iStock / Getty Images Most people don't readily notice this, but when you have posture issues, the ribcage tends to collapse onto the top of the pelvis. Or at least it comes close. This collapse, which may be due to weakness in the abdominal, back, flank, and rib muscles, often creates some very tight trunk muscles. (Yes, muscles can be tight and weak at the same time.) There's no substitute for plain 'ole exercise when targeting collapsed posture. Work on lifting the ribs, and your back strain may well disappear. A very effective way to target the muscles involved is to do pelvis and ribcage posture training. 4 Find Your Low Back Curve PASIEKA / Science Photo Library / Getty Images Spinal curves in the low back, thoracic area, and neck help your body support weight, move, and balance. The spine and pelvis are closely related. In fact, the bottom end of the spine (the sacrum) is wedged between the 2 halves of the pelvis in back. When your pelvis moves, your spine moves, too. Finding your low back curve and exploring the way it responds when you move your pelvis is key to effective posture training for this area. Try a posture exercise for the pelvis and low back curve. 5 Get Your Whole Body Involved annebaek / Getty Images Integrating is the final step in this posture exercise series. As I mentioned in the beginning, each area of the spine works a little differently relative to the others. This is based on anatomical design. When you put all the lessons together, you turn basic movements such as spinal flexion and spinal extension into posture training. In other words, now that you know how all the pieces work, you have the foundation to move your spine — and pelvis — as one unit. This may be a good activity for a mini-break at work. If you’re interested in really mastering the art of whole body posture training, you may need some detailed instructions on spinal flexion and spinal extension. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Kim D, Cho M, Park Y, Yang Y. Effect of an exercise program for posture correction on musculoskeletal pain. J Phys Ther Sci. 2015;27(6):1791–1794. doi:10.1589/jpts.27.1791 Roghani T, Zavieh MK, Manshadi FD, King N, Katzman W. Age-related hyperkyphosis: update of its potential causes and clinical impacts-narrative review. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2017;29(4):567–577. doi:10.1007/s40520-016-0617-3 Singla D, Veqar Z. Association Between Forward Head, Rounded Shoulders, and Increased Thoracic Kyphosis: A Review of the Literature. J Chiropr Med. 2017;16(3):220–229. doi:10.1016/j.jcm.2017.03.004 Kim D, Cho M, Park Y, Yang Y. Effect of an exercise program for posture correction on musculoskeletal pain. J Phys Ther Sci. 2015;27(6):1791–1794. doi:10.1589/jpts.27.1791