The end of Summer and the start of Fall always brings a bit of nostalgia for the “back to school” season. For those of us with school age family members, the excitement of seeing new friends and the overwhelm about tests, workload, and extra curriculars is palpable. One thing that hasn’t changed even if school is long in the rear view mirror for us personally, is carrying far too much stuff in our backpacks and shoulder bags.
Tips for Bag Carrying
- Having a more even distribution of weight is ideal. Use a backpack when possible making sure the straps are taught so the weight isn’t hanging too far away from your body
- If you wear a shoulder bag, try to wear *two* that are evenly weighted
- Don’t pack more than you truly need! Could you bring a smaller water bottle and refill it later? Do you need your ipad, laptop, and book for your day out? If you’re packing a sweater, could it be thinner and a warmer fabric rather than thick, heavy, and bulkier
How to Counteract Bag Wearing
Wearing any bag causes you to roll your shoulders forward making it impossible to maintain a true neutral posture. This can cause strain in your neck, shoulders, and other body areas. However, trying to bring your shoulders “back” while wearing a bag often displaces the alignment of your torso which can be problematic for your backs and hips.
What are some exercises to counteract bag wearing?
Reformer work and hands-on guidance are helpful for postural work because it’s hard to know where our shoulder blades are (on our back!) because we can’t see them. In the video (up top) see our client, who is in graduate school, bring her backpack into the session to work on her posture from foot to head, an apply multiple functional applications: support of legs, hips, core, and keeping the shoulders strong and chest open.
One Exercise
For this self-practice exercise you’ll need a theraband (or a stretch band of some kind)
- Lie on your back with knees bent and feet on the floor
- Hold a theraband with both hands up to the ceiling starting shoulder distance apart
- Exhale to relax the ribs on to the floor and activate the abdominals to stabilize the core
- Keeping your arms and wrists straight, pull the theraband apart (like you see the client doing in the video)
Functional modification:
Now that you’ve done the above exercise on the ground, try it standing with your back against a wall
Advanced modifications:
- Try it on a foam roller for more challenge on core stability or on the floor maintaining both legs in table top.
- For standing, try it on one leg with no wall support while maintaining a neutral posture.
Wishing you a pleasant entry into fall. And remember, it’s not for school but for life we learn!