Has swimming helped improve your posture and spine?
Former Member
I think it's obvious that regular swimming should help improve posture, especially the spine. I feel it even makes us walk better. What are your experiences? I was a little surprised to have seen quite a few swimmers (mostly women in their 50's-60's) with hunchbacks where I swim. They go swimming almost every day, but the curved spines are very visible when they do freestyle. Was it that they took up swimming after having already developed spine problems? Otherwise, if they had been swimming most of their lives, shouldn't they have a great physique?
I've been a life-long swimmer (with widely varying degrees of intensity) and I never had particularly great posture - ok, but certainly not noteworthy. BUT when I began to practice yoga I noticed an marked inprovement in my strangth and posture. And others noticed it too. I think any kind of training (yoga, weights, rowing) that increases the muscle tone in the back will help "pull' your posture straighter.
I guess the moral of this thread is to eat well and add some weight-bearing ex. to your routine to prevent that spine collapse that comes with osteoporosis.
I've been a life-long swimmer (with widely varying degrees of intensity) and I never had particularly great posture - ok, but certainly not noteworthy. BUT when I began to practice yoga I noticed an marked inprovement in my strangth and posture. And others noticed it too. I think any kind of training (yoga, weights, rowing) that increases the muscle tone in the back will help "pull' your posture straighter.
I guess the moral of this thread is to eat well and add some weight-bearing ex. to your routine to prevent that spine collapse that comes with osteoporosis.
