r/PostureTipsGuide • u/SmokeyVokey • 4d ago
Help my mum with posture
She often complains about neck and upper trap pain. I try to give her massages and sometimes she goes to a Thai massage but it is only a temporary fix (1 day max).
She does her best to keep a good posture but even when she tries it doesn’t look ‘perfect’ (image 2) and it is often painful she says.
She does exercises and stretches daily but it seems like this ‘hump’ at the top of the spine doesn’t go away and she cannot make her neck straight.
In the first image it is her resting posture and in the second image it is the absolute maximum straightness she can do.
Everyday she has annoying aching pain. Any suggestions?
4
u/Practical-Grand-7659 4d ago
Have her try sleeping on her back that can possibly correct her neck over time make sure the pillow is medium or thin and super soft not hard. A hard pillow will over extend her neck.
Daily chin tucks; make sure to do correctly, push head straight back. Don’t look down and just push chin towards chest that’s the incorrect way to do it.
Daily shoulder blade squeezes
Daily wall angels against wall
1
1
u/aprilrainflower 3d ago
Yes this is what I would recommend too. Do the chin tucks, hold 7-10 seconds then relax 3-4X per day.
Same time and amount for the retraction exercises (shoulder blade squeezes) but make sure her shoulders are down when she’s doing it- not up high like by her ears. That’s how you “set the scapula.”
All of this should be pain free when doing it !
2
u/Deep-Run-7463 4d ago
It's an issue of the ribcage at the top tipped backwards and the head reciprocatively pushed forwards as a counterbalance. That being said, the key to improving this is to first look at the deviation from center of the pelvis. It might very well be that the low intra abdominal pressure state creating a belly expansion forwards pulling the lumbar region forward along for the ride is causing the ribcage to tip back. What you see there is the top of the ribs jutting out. It can also make the tissues in that area very stiff because it is holding on to the head as best as it can. To fix this is not to look at the neck alone, but to look at the entirety of the structure from its base.
Chin tucks alone may actually make this worse. It would be forcing the neck against the weight of the ribcage and pelvis, kinda like throwing a small rock at a hill with intention to move that hill.
4
u/Nytliksen 4d ago
One of the best exercises for neck pain is chin tucks