Bruegger’s Postural Relief Exercise for the Neck

This exercise is designed to help undo some of our poor postural habits and help take tension off the neck and shoulders.

Many of us spend long periods of time sitting in front of a computer screen, in a car or at a desk, which can adversely affect your posture. Common indicators of poor posture include a rounded upper back, a flat lower back and forward head position. Poor posture not only looks bad, it can also be the cause of back and neck pain.

This exercise is to be performed at intervals throughout the day.

You can do the exercise either standing or sitting.

Start by sitting or standing up straight. With your arms straight and pointing down to the floor, point your thumbs in towards your body and then rotate them so they are pointing firstly away from your body and then pointing behind you. Then roll your shoulders back and down. Fully straighten your elbows wrists and fingers and bring your whole arms back behind your body. Gently arch through your middle spine by pushing out your chest. Make sure you’re moving through your middle back and not your lower back. Then gently retract the head by imagining a thread pulling up from the centre of the top of the head. This brings the head from a forward position to a more balanced position over the shoulders. Hold for 30 seconds.

It is a great idea to set a reminder on your computer on or your phone to remind you to do this every half an hour. Our poor posture comes from when we are not thinking about it. This exercise is aimed to break up the length of time we are slouching throughout the day.

It also not a bad idea to give this to your workmates, not only will they thank you for it, but you won’t be the only one looking like a goose every half hour!