How To Get Taller By Improving Your Posture

Getting Taller By Improving Your Posture | Dr Ken Nakamura Best Toronto Chiropractor

Do you want to know how to get taller?

Did you know you can get taller by doing five essential exercises?

In this article, I help you discover the key to getting taller. 

Your forward head posture and your lower back posture are the key fixes you need to get taller.

The forward head posture causes your upper spine to be more curved like the picture above. The more curved your upper back is, the more help you will need to get taller.

Forward head posture is so common in our society now, that from my observation most people have it. Forward head posture stems from bad posture from looking at various screens, which creates muscle imbalances in the body, not only at the neck but the upper back and lower body.

That’s right your forward head posture is affected by your lower back and pelvis whether you are sitting or standing. Getting taller for many of you especially those of you who “text” a lot, lift weights or sit a lot need to do these exercises to improve your muscle imbalance.

Muscle imbalances involve muscles that are too short and tight and other muscles that are weak and too long. The key to finding out “how to get taller” is to balance these muscles with the following exercises below.

Short muscles: The short muscles are your suboccipital muscles, pec minor, subscapularis, sternocleidomastoid, and scalenes.

Long and weak muscles: The long muscles are your trapezius, rhomboids, deep cervical flexors and cervical extensors.

How To Get Taller Posture Fix#1 Helium balloon Attached to your head

  1. Bring the top of your head so that it is facing directly above your body and sit/stand tall like a helium balloon is attached to the top of your head.
  2. Now tuck your chin in slightly so that it doesn’t stick out.

Posture Fix #2 Chest Level

  1. The chest should be fixed with the above posture fix but if not the chest should also be straight.
  2. Look at your sternum. If your chest is full of water like a glass of water, you don’t want to have any spills.
  3. Straighten out your chest so that no water is spilling out. Most people can skip this step as Posture Fix #1 has already fixed this.

How To Get Taller Posture Fix #3 Butt Squeeze

  1. Sitting for long periods and lack of exercise can weakness in the gluteus maximus. If so your lower back will be too curved.
  2. You need to improve that posture by squeezing your buttock muscles. Your height improves as the lower back becomes less curved.

If you want to know more details about how to improve your lower back curve click the link right here.

Fix #4 Tighten Your Abs

  1. Tighten your ab muscle without bending forward.
  2. Do both the butt squeeze and the ab muscle tightening at the same time. Both these exercises together will facilitate getting taller by decreasing the curve in your lower back.

Fix #5 Tighten Your Quads

  1. Tighten your quadriceps muscle and this will help you get taller in two ways.
  2. First, it straightens out your knees. If your knees are straight you are standing a little taller.  Most people stand with their knees bent.
  3. Tightening your quads also helps decrease the curve in your lower back.

The above are quick postural fixes but if you want to change things you also need to strengthen some of these muscles and stretch other muscles that we already talked about above.

How To Get Taller Exercise #1 High Rows With External Rotation

This exercise helps you strengthen the muscles that pull your shoulder blades together. By strengthening these back muscles the exercises help you support your upper back and neck in the proper position.

  • Put your resistance band against a sturdy object.
  • Pull the band at the same level as your eyes.
  • Keep your abs and butt tight and stand straight without moving or arching your back. ( I am arching my back in the picture so that’s wrong, which is a common mistake)
  • Bring your shoulder blades together as if you were squeezing a pencil between your shoulder blades.
  • Next externally rotate your shoulders so your forearms are vertical, like the picture above.
  • Do 3 sets of 20 for a total of 60. As you get stronger try to work your way up to 50 repetitions per set.

How To Get Taller Exercise #2 Wall Lean Exercise

This exercise helps strengthen the front neck muscles and stretch the neck muscles at the back of the neck, helping the forward head posture.

  1. Put a rolled-up towel or cushion behind your head.
  2. Stand about 1 foot / 30 cm away from the wall, facing away from the wall.
  3. Your chin should not be down or up.
  4. Your ear and your shoulder should be aligned in a straight line.
  5. Hold for 1 minute.
  6. If this is easy, step out away from the wall a little further.
  7. You should feel a gentle muscle contraction at the back of your neck (you may not feel it at first, but after 20-30 seconds you will feel the muscle contraction).

This strengthens the deep cervical extensors and trapezius muscles while stretching the chest muscles and tiny muscles at the back of the head.

Tell us what you think in the comments below and like us on Facebook. This Toronto Downtown Chiropractor will answer all questions in the comments section.

Related Categories: Posture, Shoulder

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Dr. Ken, has been recognized as the Best Toronto Chiropractor in 2024, 2023, and 2018, here in downtown Toronto. As a sports chiropractor, he excels in treating a wide range of conditions including concussions, temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJ), sports-related injuries, and spinal issues. Beyond his clinical skills, Dr. Ken is an accomplished athlete, having represented Ontario in the Canadian Judo Championships and completed the Toronto Marathon on two occasions. He employs the innovative C3 Program to provide targeted and effective care to his patients, ensuring a holistic approach to their well-being and athletic performance.