We’re going to talk today about how something as simple as a tennis ball can help you with forward head posture. This is part of our Core 4 posture system where we teach you very specific exercises and tools and techniques to be able to improve your posture without even thinking about it.
It’s okay while you’re thinking about it
You’ve probably been told this growing up that you need to sit up straight. You need to bring your shoulders back, bring your head back, all these different things, improve your posture, and don’t slouch. We’re probably telling our kids these same things. The problem that we realize, is as long as you’re thinking about it, you might be able to handle this forward head posture change.
But the moment you stop thinking about it, the moment you go about normal life, it then starts to become difficult to maintain that posture.
The Core 4 System
So we need to use some of the tools that are available for us to do that. I’ve created a system. It’s called the core four posture system. And the system, what it does is it trains each of the muscles that help to support your posture so that you’ll be in an improved position without even thinking about it. So let’s begin. The tool that we’re going to be using is this tennis ball. You can use a tennis ball, you can use a lacrosse ball. I recommend lacrosse balls a lot because certain exercises require something hard and firm. But for this particular exercise that helps relieve forward head posture, a tennis ball will work just fine. So for this exercise, you’re going to need to be able to perform it while lying down. So we’re going to take this tennis ball.
How does the tennis ball posture exercise work?
The way this forward head posture exercise works, place the tennis ball under your chin, and you lift the head. Now that sounds strange and it sounds like it’s almost counterintuitive. Why are we lifting our head if we’re trying to deal with this problem of forward head posture? And here’s why. The reason why we get forward head posture is that the muscles in the back of the neck are really strong and they’re pulling the head back in this direction. And so as we pull the head back in this direction, the head shifts forward. What we’ve got to do is strengthen the muscles in the front. And what that does is that brings the head back down and pull things back. So instead of our suboccipital muscles being strong, we’ve got to train the scalings and the muscles up in the front of the neck. Here’s how we do it. You take this tennis ball, you put it under your chin, you bring your head back, and then you lift it, holding the tennis ball underneath the chin, repeat that 10 times.
After you perform an exercise like this, you’re actually going to notice that you’re already starting to feel your head want to return back to normal, even though you were doing an exercise that was pulling you forward. Real simple, something you could do at home. And I hope it works out well for you. Now, this is one exercise that helps bring the head back. It strengthens the muscles in the front of the neck, but some other things that we need to be able to accomplish is to loosen up the muscles in the back of the neck.
For more information
Download the free course, where you can get all these forward head posture exercises, all the tips and tools and techniques to be able to improve your posture and live a healthier life. You can do it at home with the kids. I’m dr Emil Tompkins. Have a great day.
Read Next: 5 Steps to Correct Your Posture
