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“The most important thing you can do each day to prevent injury and improve your mobility and posture is to get moving,” says Dr. Kim Coros, a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician, or Physiatrist, at Bridgepoint Active Healthcare.

While Canadian physical activity guidelines recommend 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, Dr. Coros says that adding any amount of activity to your day has physical, mental and social benefits for your health. And physical activity can be accrued in small increments: 10 minutes here and there throughout your day adds up.

Dr. Coros recommends these 4 quick exercises to help you build small amounts of activity into your day and strengthen your core muscle groups to help prevent injuries:

Exercise #1: Balance training

Weekly balance training is recommended at all ages but becomes increasingly important as we age, playing an important role in falls prevention. To improve your balance, try the Single Leg Stance:

  • Stand on one foot and hold for 10-15 seconds.
  • Switch legs and repeat.
  • Challenge yourself by closing your eyes and/or doing the exercise while brushing your teeth.
  • Modification: Older adults can do this exercise while holding onto something (e.g., a chair) for support.

Exercise #2: Scapular (shoulder) stabilization

Because we spend so much time sitting and hunching over our phones and computers, many of us are prone to developing a rounded posture that pulls the shoulder blades out of alignment, causing neck and upper back pain while impairing our strength and range of motion. To teach your shoulder blades to come back into line, try the Dynamic T and I exercise:

  • Lay on your stomach with your arms out to your sides so that your body forms a T shape.
  • Squeeze your shoulder blades together to lift your arms.
  • Slowly move your arms backward until they are parallel with your body, forming an I shape. Hold for 10 seconds.
  • Return to your starting T position and lower your arms.

Exercise #3: Glute strengthening

Many of us spend hours every day sitting, a posture that doesn’t activate the glute muscles. Weekend warriors risk injuring their hamstrings because they overuse them while running or exercising to compensate for the weakness in their glute muscles. To strengthen your glutes, try Side Step-ups:

  • Stand sideways with both feet on a step or platform.
  • Step down with your right foot and tap the ground.
  • Push into your left heel to engage the left glutes and slowly lift your right foot back up to the step.
  • Throughout the exercise, keep your hips even, your back straight and your belly button pulled in toward the spine.
  • Switch legs and repeat.

Exercise #4: Core stability

A common complaint, low back pain is often the result of a lack of core strength and stability. To strengthen your core, try the Bird-dog Pose:

  • Start out on all fours and pull your belly button in toward your spine.
  • Lift your right arm and left leg at the same time, keeping your back flat and engaging the left glute muscle as you lift the leg.
  • Hold for 10 seconds and lower back to your starting position.
  • Switch sides: Lift your left arm and right leg, engaging the right glute this time.
  • Hold for 10 seconds and release.
  • Repeat 3 times on each side.

Pro Tip: Doing the exercises correctly is more important than how many times you do them. Keep your movements slow and controlled to engage the right muscles and keep the rest of your body stable. Once you’ve mastered your form, you can gradually work up to 3 sets of 10 repetitions for each exercise daily.

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