How Horse Riding Improves Posture

BEMER Therapy, Chronic Pain, Pain Management

Rediscovering my love of horse riding has taught me many things.

Firstly, it’s taught me that just because I live with chronic pain conditions doesn’t mean I can’t take up and enjoy physical hobbies.

Secondly, horses are good for the soul.

Thirdly, riding regularly can work wonders for your posture and may even help reduce some symptoms of chronic pain. So, saddle up because I’m about to put you onto your new favourite hobby…

How Horse Riding Improves Posture 

One of the main benefits of horse riding is postural improvements. To ride and control your horse effectively, you must adopt a particular position that encourages core strength, great balance and pelvic mobility – all of which makes you far more aware of your body’s alignment, on and off the horse.

Let’s explore…

  • Core Strength Staying upright on a horse is way harder than the pros make it look, trust me! You need a solid and engaged core and proper spinal alignment. The good news is, the mere act of sitting on a horse while it moves works to build that core strength, improving the functioning of your abdominal muscles and strengthening those surrounding your spine. The more you ride, the stronger these muscles get, and the better able you are to maintain proper postural positioning.
  • Better Balance A horse’s movement is three-dimensional, meaning you need to be moving in line with the horse’s gait when riding. This helps massively with your balance, again strengthening those core muscles and avoiding spinal compression.
  • Pelvic Mobility Horse riding works wonders for your pelvis. The movement of the horse improves flexibility and motion in the hip joints, helping you to improve your posture and avoid musculoskeletal niggles that can exacerbate chronic pain.

Benefits of Horse Riding for Chronic Pain 

Now, it wouldn’t be a Rolling with the Glen blog without me tell you how all this can help manage your chronic pain symptoms, would it?

  • Alignment of the Spine Horse riding encourages correct spinal alignment. This can help to reduce symptoms of conditions like chronic lower back pain. In fact, research has shown that chronic pain sufferers engaging in equine therapeutic programmes report ‘significant improvements in reaching and bending forward, standing for a prolonged period of time, and sleep.’
  • Hip Joint Benefits All that pelvic movement really benefits your hip joints (it certainly has mine!). Reduced stiffness, improved flexibility, and decreased joint pain are all benefits that can be felt with tailored horse-riding programmes.
  • Chronic Pain Support Now, while I’m not suggesting hopping on a horse will resolve all your posture and pain problems, I am saying it can be hugely beneficial for your overall well-being and could help to alleviate some chronic pain niggles caused by poor posture.

If you’d like more info, please feel free to get in touch.

The National Equine Show 

I chat a lot on here about the benefits of BEMER therapy for us humans, but did you know BEMER therapy also works wonders for horses? Pop over to see me at The National Equine Show (NEC, Birmingham), and I’ll give you a demo – see you there!

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