Yoga for Posture Improvement

If you're over 40 or spend a lot of time hunched over your cell phone or computer, chances are that your posture is starting to look increasingly like the person in the image above.

We all know that poor posture isn't flattering. However, in reality, posture affects our health and well-being in numerous ways. And one particular posture problem has a significant impact on our long-term health and wellbeing, and medical science is just starting to catch on to this fact.

Here is the one posture problem you rarely hear about, but which is well worth paying attention to:

We are talking about forward head posture and its more advanced relative, hyperkyphosis. You may have heard of the new concept of ‘text neck’– which is essentially forward head posture, where our head is forward of the center.  In its more advanced stages, forward head posture may develop into hyperkyphosis.

And, hyperkyphosis, as we shall see, is the precursor of pretty much any age-related condition you don’t want to have.

New Research Finds that Hyperkyphosis Presents Same Health Risks as Osteoporosis.

You may be young or middle-aged with no signs of osteoporosis or hyperkyphosis. So why should you worry about this issue at this point in your life? So why should you care?

Well, you should care because the body takes its shape over years. The foundation of hyperkyphosis and other posture problems is laid decades before it becomes a visible problem. So the time to focus on preventing hyperkyphosis is not when you’re 70 or 80 years old and have developed some degree of the condition.

It’s never too late to change your posture, but the older you get, the more you have to swim upstream. So the best time to improve your posture and prevent hyperkyphosis from developing is when you’re in your forties, fifties, and sixties. Hyperkyphosis isn’t an either-or. It’s a subclinical condition long before it turns into a Dowager’s Hump.

There is a growing awareness in society of the health issues linked to forward head posture and hyperkyphosis. However, the medical establishment has little to offer for the condition, both by way of prevention and treatment. So not surprisingly, there is growing interest in alternative approaches to improving posture, including yoga. Pilot studies have documented the benefits of yoga for hyperkyphosis, and this is an area of research that we can expect growing interest in in the future.