How can you improve alignment

Coughing and Sneezing Develop the habit of supporting your back with one hand whenever you cough or sneeze. Place your hand behind your back or on your thigh. This protects the spine from injury caused by a sudden bend forward.

Getting into Bed First, sit down on the side of the bed. Lean toward the head of the bed while supporting your body with both hands. Then lie down on your side, bringing both feet up onto the bed at the same time. Keep your knees bent and arms in front of you. Then roll onto your back in one motion.

Pull your abdomen in as you roll to support your back and to help prevent twisting. Keep nose, knees and toes pointing in the same direction. Do not lift your head and upper back to move in bed. This puts a great deal of strain on your spine and could cause broken bones. Lying Down and Getting Out of Bed When lying on your side in bed, use one pillow between your knees and one under your head to keep your spine aligned and increase your comfort.

When lying on your back in bed, use one or two pillows under your knees and one under your head. Try to avoid using extra pillows to prop your head and upper back since this will put you into a rounded upper back position. But, if you have a rounded upper back posture with a forward head, you may need two pillows to support your neck comfortably.

When getting out of bed, reverse the steps you used to get into bed above : Keep both arms in front of you. Pull your abdomen in and breathe as you roll onto your side. Keep your abdomen pulled in and use your hand to raise your upper body as you carefully place your legs over the side of the bed in one motion.

Sit on the edge of the bed for a moment or two before you stand up. When on your back, never lift your head and upper back to sit up in bed or get out of bed. Download Acrobat Reader. Stay Connected Join our community to learn more about osteoporosis, or connect with others near you who are suffering from the disease.

Sign Up Now Donate today! Donate Now Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Posture can be an easy feeling throughout your musculoskeletal system when you have good alignment.

But if you do most of your activities of daily living with poor body mechanics , or are injured or stressed in any way, this ease may well be replaced with muscle spasm and spinal misalignment. Good posture comes from being upright against the force of gravity so that your bones fit properly with one another at their respective joints places where bones connect. The way the bones fit in relation to one another and to the whole body form is referred to as alignment.

Posture experts have described ideal alignment in terms of the location of body parts used as landmarks, relative to a vertical plumb line that runs down through your center. Clinically or otherwise, ideal postural alignment occurs at the joints with the two bones meeting at their centers. Ideal postural alignment causes the least amount of musculoskeletal pain and strain.

Chronic back and neck pain can often be helped with yoga, as long as you approach in the right frame of mind. It is an ancient holistic system based on poses and the achievement of peace of mind. If you come to yoga armed with information about your condition and the type of yoga you are doing, you will likely do wonders for your back. For injury healing and pain management , bring an attitude of non-competition. Select a class that is conducted on a level that allows you to be in the poses without pain or a feeling of destabilization.

Interview your instructor to see if they have experience working with people who have back pain. Novice yoga teachers may potentially be harmful to people with back or neck pain.

Many sports injuries are cumulative, which means they happen over long periods of time when a certain body part is used in a way that puts too much strain on it.

Even though each pose is different, there are several alignment principles that almost always apply — bear them in mind as you go through your practice. There are many verbal cues in Yoga that are meant to guide you to the ideal alignment. Some of them may not make sense when you hear them for the first time but once you learn what they mean, they are priceless. Many of them apply to so many poses that you can simply use them as a mental checklist when you practice Yoga.

Of course, not all of them are relevant to all poses but your common sense will guide you. Use blocks or a strap. This is the neutral spine position. Pressing your lower back into the floor puts you in the imprinted position. As you press your left hip into the floor, your pelvis assumes the 3 o'clock position, and pressing your right hip into the floor brings you to 9 o'clock. Practice clockwise and counterclockwise rotations.

While the pelvic clock enhances awareness of the position of your pelvis, the bridge helps you sense the alignment of each of your spinal vertebra. Lie supine, bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor. Center your neck, so that the top of your aligns with the base of your spine. Tilt your pelvis so that your pubic bone moves toward your navel.

Return to the starting position. Next, lift your pelvis and lower back.