How a Foam Roller can Help Improve Your Posture
Many users of foam rollers are unaware that these versatile devices can also play a part in helping you to improve your physical posture.
Good posture is essential for performance enhancement and injury prevention and a foam roller can help you develop it.
If you want your body movements to be balanced, strong, and easier to execute, it is important to take steps to develop your posture, not just maintain it.
Great posture allows for a strong core region that can resist movement as it protects a straight spine, while also allowing for free movement of the limbs.
Using a form roller can help develop posture by lengthening short and knotted muscles, which would otherwise be dragging your skeletal framework out of its natural alignment.
A roller can help to encourage good symmetry and the subtle balancing required when using one can activate muscles deep-within your core, making it stronger from the inside out.
Stronger core muscles will help you maintain good posture for longer by helping your core to resist movement for greater periods of time.
You can check your posture regularly after using your roller to see if there is any improvement in it.
This requires you to stand up straight with your chin tucked slightly downwards. You legs should be roughly shoulder width apart. Keep your spine tall and straight.
Now push your sternum forward, with your chest wide, and your shoulders down and back. Your shoulder blades should be strong and pinched together.
With some work on your mobility you should eventually be able to get to the stage where you can lock your shoulders down and back, and be able to hold them in that position while moving your arms around freely. You should also be aiming to have strong and tight abs, with your naval back towards your spine.
Lastly, while maintaining a strong arch in your lower back, you should be able to move your legs freely. Keep your spine straight, all the way down to your tailbone.
The aim is for your core - everything apart from your arms, legs and head - to feel like a single solid unit, while your arms and legs are still able to move freely throughout basic functional movement patterns.