How to Improve Your Posture If You're a Woman

Improving your posture requires both developing more body awareness and performing specific, targeted exercises to improve your core strength. Bad posture can strain your musculature and drain your energy; it compresses your blood vessels and nerves, restricts your range of motion and can even result in physical changes to your skeleton that make you appear shorter. Poor posture is a leading cause of headaches, neck and back pain and fatigue.

Things You'll Need

  • Tennis balls
  • First-aid tape
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Instructions

    • 1

      Check in with your body alignment. In a standing position, balance your weight evenly between both feet. Lift your chest and shoulders up and back; make sure your earlobes are placed directly above your shoulders. Imagine that a string is pulling the top of your head up from above.

    • 2

      Improve the strength of your core -- muscles of the abdominals, hips and back -- with balance exercises. Stand tall and reach your arms out to your sides. Hinging at the hips, lean slightly forward, and lift your right leg up and out to the side with the toes pointed. Balance, breathe and hold for a minimum of 15 seconds. Repeat with the left leg. Do up to three repetitions on each side.

    • 3

      Practice your posture with targeted exercises. Sit tall in an office chair and place one tennis ball between each shoulder blade and the chair. Use your shoulder blades to press back into the chair, keeping the tennis balls in between in place. For the second exercise, start by rolling your shoulders down and back. Stick a piece of first-aid tape on the back of both shoulder blades, connecting the middle of one to the middle of the other one. If the tape tightens, you know your shoulders are slouching.

    • 4

      Move around. Especially if you work in an office most of the day, be sure to take regular, short breaks to walk and stretch, helping to keep your spine relaxed and your muscles supple.