5 Exercises to Improve Posture and Mobility for Seniors

Are you looking for posture exercises for seniors?

Poor posture can affect moving around, walking and daily activities because it’s directly related to balance and function. In the long run, bad posture can lead to back pain and joint pain in your hips and knees.

Seniors can perform many posture exercises during leisure time with the assistance of a respite caregiver from home care. If your loved one is sitting on a chair watching TV, he or she can do these exercises during the commercials. If they’re on the computer, they can take a break every five minutes for a posture exercise.

We’ve put together an array of exercises to help you target these postures more easily. Keep in mind, these are designed specifically for seniors. 

Arms Up

This exercise corrects shoulder posture and aids in breathing.

For the arms up exercise, seniors would have to  start with their arms down. Then they would have to raise them to shoulder height. The seniors are then instructed to squeeze their shoulder blades together and then return to a neutral spine with arms down. 

Spinal Extension

This exercise can improve posture for those who find themselves slouching or keeping their chin down. As the name implies, this is an awesome exercise for the spine.

During this exercise, they are advised to inhale and sit up as tall as possible. Then they are allowed to relax and exhale. 

Chin tuck and jut

Sometimes it is easy to loose good posture while sitting in a chair. Ideally, the vertebrae should be stacked.

This exercise helps old folks maintain a neutral spine while sitting.

For the chin tuck and jut, the elderly have to tuck their chin into chest, then jut it forward. Make sure your loved one is sitting on a chair and has a relaxed spine. During the exercise, the seniors should lift their ribs and breathe normally. 

Shoulder circles

If you think a senior’s shoulders are angling forward due to slouching, this exercise will help put them back in place.

For this exercise, your elder needs to sit up tall, lifting the ribs. Raise only shoulders up slowly and then lower. Make sure to continue breathing normally.

Wall tilts

This exercise helps correct the posture of your loved one’s lower back, and it will strengthen pelvis and buttock muscles.

Wall tilts are done with the back against a wall. The elderly need to place a hand behind their back and try to flatten it to create pressure on their hand, and then relax it. If the exercise is too difficult to do standing up, your loved can try it sitting down.

Share these posture exercises for seniors or their loved ones who can make use of them! Good posture helps alleviate pain and discomfort so give these a try. There are posture corrector products available in the market to help maintain postures, but always consult your chiropractor before using it.