Were you nagged to "stop slouching, sit tall and pull your shoulders back" when you were a kid? I know I was and at times I wish I still had those regular prompts today.

The forward upper back hunch posture - kyphosis - is something we used to associate with older age. But it is becoming much more common in younger people. We're living a much more sedentary life than previous generations - whether it’s because we are deskbound with work, stuck in traffic for hours at a time, not moving enough each day thanks to all our mod-cons or spending too much time looking down at our mobile phones.

A question I get asked quite often by clients with kyphosis is whether we can reverse it. Are there are any exercises that will help to turn back time and straighten our upper back? Can you fix a bad posture?

The answer? Well, it depends. I discuss this and my personal experience in working with people in the video below. But in a nutshell, I find that past a certain age, it is not very easy to reverse imbalances in posture with exercise.

And that is a real problem. With an forward posture it becomes more difficult to do certain exercises (or day-to-day moves )…like lifting heavy weights over your head without compromising your shoulders or your lower back.

So is it worth even trying to exercise if you already have a forward hunch? The answer is a very large and loud YES!! Many of the injuries that we associate with old age such as falls due to loss of balance, and dodgy knees and shoulders, are closely related to postural imbalances. A regular exercise routine like Pilates directly addresses posture imbalances to stop them getting worse and contributing to injury.

Check out the video below. It also includes some simple but effective exercises to help address this type of postural imbalance.