A posture brace is a garment that provides improved stability support and serves to properly align the neck, shoulder, upper back or lower back muscles.
By pulling your shoulders back, it makes your back straight. The brace can be used by anybody irrespective of the age to overcome issues related to improper alignment. Typically, they are sold over the counter. There are different types of braces for children, women and men. They are designed to offer different muscle support levels, for instance, some are ideal for people whose muscles surrounding the spinal column are weakening, while others are best fit for individuals involved in lifting heavy weights.
Without Brace
With Brace
Generally put, braces are used for posture improvement.
What is a posture brace and how does it work?
Different posture braces are designed to deal with different posture improvements.
If you intend to improve your posture, and you have decided to use a brace, you first need to consult your doctor. Braces artificially strengthen the body’s core by ensuring that the spine remains properly aligned. By so doing, it eases pressure on the abdominal, back, neck and shoulder muscles. Improved posture lessens pain and discomfort in the targeted area; hence the chances of injury are greatly reduced.
- Braces should only be used occasionally when daily chores become uncomfortable.
- They can also be used for preventing or avoiding injuries.
- However, they should not be wholly used as a substitute for other posture improving techniques such as rehabilitation, physical therapy, weight loss, chiropractic care or exercising.
In fact if a person has an untreated injury, the brace may increase the pain and endanger health eventually. They should only be used occasionally because using them for long might lead to weakening of the muscles.
Benefits of using braces for posture improvement
People suffering from physical ailments stand to benefit a lot from using braces.
Walking, sitting or sleeping can lead to the misalignment of the spinal cord. Braces improve appearance, encourage good posture, retrain muscles and relieve pain. They should be worn when doing activities that would be uncomfortable in order to prevent injury. Research has shown that it takes about six weeks for a person to learn a new habit. So people suffering from pain resulting from slouch positions on chairs and want to improve their postures should use it. Braces should be used together with regular exercises for about six months. People involved in lifting heavy weights are advised to use braces so as to maintain good postures.
The braces will help them to avoid injuries by maintaining good postures.
Other ways of correcting bad posture
Using a brace alone does not correct bad posture.
The brace cannot cure all the symptoms that often accompany bad posture. The use of posture braces should be supplemented with exercises and practicing to adopt good postures. Exercises that should be done include those that strengthen core muscles such as the pectorals, obliques, abs, lower and upper back muscles. A good diet should also be a routine. By exercising daily, the muscles around the abdominal, shoulder and sine area become strong and flexible hence a person will easily notice an improvement in flexibility and posture. Exercising improves metabolism and sleep, enables toning and development of lean muscles.
When all these are done simultaneously, the body stands to benefit a lot from good posture and flexibility.
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