Rounded shoulders and dowagers hump

[Boshi]

Has anyone successfully corrected this? I’ve seen some exercises online that I plan to do, I’ve noticed that my posture has got worse since breastfeeding my baby who is now 9 months, and the additional weight hasn’t helped.

I’ve lost the weight but still have rounded shoulders, has anyone done any exercises that helped particularly?

Yoga. Find a local class and go along

Regular sessions with a chiropractor have been a big help to me re posture. I have always had poor posture. I naturally have a sway back posture and coupled with a desk job found that over the years my natural position was rounded shoulders. It's ongoing treatment and I'm there every three weeks for now but I am getting better at correcting myself and seeing differences in my natural posture now.

There's an app called the 30 day posture makeover that is really good

Also, there are some exercises to do daily posted on YouTube. I really recommend that app though!

You need to work on core strength. Daily 15 minutes

Yes I'm the same and also noticed it was worse after breastfeeding my first baby.

I recently saw a sports massage therapist- he is like a chiropractor too. He helped after one appointment- and said a course of treatment would help- I'm thinking of doing that soon when I can afford it.

Yoga and Pilates good for ongoing maintenance

Are you sure it's not sat on the sofa looking at your phone/ leaning down staring at the phone while pushing the buggy ? I have noticed that it's SO much better for posture to simply not use my phone, if I do use social media I prefer to sit in my comfy chair at my desk with a large eye level screen. When out walking with the param, shoulders back head up and pretend you're being stretched upwards.

sorru I should have said I do yoga and Pilates - 3 times weekly, I feel a lot stronger but it doesn’t really hit the shoulders enough to make a difference

My core is quite strong, I do the plank 1 min and an exercises targeting middle and lower abs (straight leg lifts and crunches) daily. My tummy is flatter than it has been for a long time but my shoulders are rounder than ever 😫 I don’t know if it’s age (mid 40s) or breastfeeding/carrying around a baby

just wondering in terms of targeted exercises specifically for rounded shoulders that anyone can share that have made a permanent difference.

Rowing is good. Anything that will work on your traps, rhomboids, infraspinatus and posterior deltoids, strengthening and stabilising them. Stretch your chest muscles too.

Look at an exercise program for your upper back.

When you plank pull your shoulder blades together and you'll feel like you need to activate your core more so you aren't pushing through your shoulder and arms and shortening your chest muscles.

A stand against a wall exercise, you stand with your feet a few inches from a wall, press your bum, mid back (bra strap area) and back of your head (chin tucked in) against the wall, then roll shoulders back. raise arms against the wall (palms facing forward) to shoulder height. Hold for a couple of minutes, pressing against the wall throughout, then step away and try to maintain the posture. Doing this regularly really helps.

Dowager’s hump is something different to poor posture. It’s normally caused by bone degeneration post- menopause.

If you can go for a session with an osteopath they can identify where your weaknesses are and give you targeted exercises to try, as well as a treatment to help realign things. Usually about £50 for a private session but so good.

My DH is like this, should we be looking for an osteopath, physical therapist or a chiropractor?

Pilates

When I had round shoulders I found it was because my muscles at the front had contracted and the ones at the back were weak

So what I could useful was stretches for the front of my shoulders and strengthening exercises for the back

The best thing I found for stretches for the front of my shoulders is to clasp your bands behind your back and lift your hands up as high as you can. But I did some others too. It's a combination of doing them regularly and getting into the habit of correcting your posture the moment you notice you are hunching

This is me too and mine is causing me terrible neck and shoulder pain to the point it makes me cry when I turn over in bed at night. I've been doing pilates for blooming years and its helped posture, but the neck pain persists. I can no longer do the push ups as they bring on frozen shoulders.

I started at the chiropractor just after Xmas and I'm starting to notice a tiny improvement now. Like a PP, my issue is the muscles at the front, under my collar bones have contracted and feel too short. Probably caused by too much looking down at laptop, phone etc.

You have to stretch the front of your upper chest -so maybe clasping your hands behind your back/ yoga cobra - your shoulders won’t sit further back til the front has loosened

Thanks all I will try the exercises to stretch out the chest, it’s hard work! Feels very uncomfortable

Yes I agree with PP the therapist I saw also identified the muscles at the front were too tight, and pulled the neck, shoulders and chin forward