Prolonged sitting, improper gait, poor running form and other activities like riding, reinforces forward shoulders, rounded backs and manifestly affects your posture. Think about it: Everything we do on a daily basis is in front of us; driving, eating, working on the computer, watching television, washing dishes, riding, etc. No wonder our shoulders and upper back roll forward and become rounded. We don’t do anything behind our backs that would allow us to counter balance the massive workload that is forcing our body to be pulled forward.



Without getting too technical, let me begin by explaining that postural dysfunctions, also referred as “thoracic kyphosis,” are caused by the downward pull of gravity and the lack of strength and body awareness on maintaining good posture. Poor posture is categorized in two main conditions; muscular imbalances (muscles) or structural imbalances (bones).
Muscular imbalances are typically a lack of core strength and stabilization and weak muscles in the mid and upper back. On the other hand, structural imbalances will require stretching your body backwards to obtain greater extension in your spine. Basically, the goal is to stretch overly tight pectorals and front shoulders while gaining strength and flexibility in your back.
These postural issues create a complex problem that will require more than just one or two isolated exercises. In this article, I will address A) body awareness and B) flexibility. Specific core and back strengthening exercises will be explained in Part 2 in next month’s article. I will also address the usefulness of posture braces in the December issue.



Body Awareness
The first step to improving your riding posture is awareness. You need to become aware of your core muscles and how they work. Stability in this area also allows the arms and legs to function independently and leads to the look of softness and stillness that is so apparent when you watch really good riders in action. In addition to tightened core muscles, an effort must be made to consistently maintain good posture and keep the shoulders back by squeezing the shoulder blades together. You can mentally imagine pinching a stick placed vertically between your shoulder blades. By continually remembering not to slouch and pushing your shoulders back, you should increase your postural awareness within days.



Flexibility
The second step to correcting poor posture is stretching the front of your upper body (pectorals, anterior deltoids or front of your shoulders) and also gently stretching your spine backwards or in extension. There are quite a few stretches you can do to work toward improving your riding posture but I would recommend these three that have worked really well with many riders. The first one (see picture 1) focuses on stretching your pectorals and anterior deltoids (front of your shoulders). This stretch can be done as seen or with any doorway. The hands are chest high and grab the door frame, while the bodyweight falls forward. In collaboration with this chest/front shoulder stretch, other stretches leading to the extension of the thoracic spine must be performed. As seen in pictures 2 and 3, using a small soft ball or a bigger exercise ball is a very good way of achieving this goal. Note: if you have a back injury or pain in your back, please get approval from your physician before attempting these stretches.

When will you see improvement?
The key is frequency and consistency. You should perform these stretches daily and incorporate the strengthening exercises which I will address in next month’s issue. Within weeks of regaining the needed flexibility and increasing back strength you should see significant improvement in your posture and riding position.
Remember, once you are in the saddle, it is almost impossible to think about exercises. Opening up new motor pathways in the body with stretches and exercises on the ground will eventually allow your postural muscles to activate automatically. Contact Equestric for posture analysis and personalized exercise programs.
Fit To Ride columnist Sylvie Quenneville is the founder and head trainer at Equestric, an equestrian athlete fitness company in Rancho Santa Fe. She may be contacted by email:
info@equestric.com or by visiting her website: www.equestric.com.