Posture Is How You Balance Your Body

Posture Principle #2

                

Your posture is how you balance your body, how all the parts of your body are stacked up one on top of another.  Your pelvis is stacked over your legs, your torso over your pelvis and your head over your torso.  If you are standing up, you are balanced. The question is how are you balanced?

Imagine a set of blocks like you played with as a child.  In order to stack the blocks one on top of the other, it works best when you place them directly on top of one another.  If the first block is off kilter, then all the blocks after that will need to be off set in order for the block tower to stay upright.

   

The same is true for the regions of your body.  If your hips are uneven, your torso will have to move in the opposite direction to maintain the center of gravity, and your head will move opposite to your torso.

When balance is maintained this way, what we call often call “bad” posture, it creates strain on the ligaments, tendons, muscles and joints of your body. Some of these structures become overworked while some are not worked at all, leaving you vulnerable to further injury as well since falls are more likely to happen.

The posture exercises taught at our clinic gently help correct and maintain strong posture, which promotes balanced motion.  For more information about these exercises, go to

http://www.bodyzone.com/ or call our office at 850-875-1747.

So why do our bodies acquire posture problems over time?  In the next entry, we’ll talk about Posture Principle #3, “Patterns”.

Information for this article is from Stand Taller, Live Longer, by Steven Weineger D.C.

The Posture Principles

This is the first of a series to present the five Posture Principles from the book, Stand Taller, Live Longer, by Steven Weineger D.C.

Posture Principle #1

The Human Body is Designed to Move

Our bodies are inherently designed to move.

Function follows form in this case, and each part has a particular purpose.  The skeletal structure holds us upright in space and is made of bones connected together by ligaments, which also limit the bone’s motion.  Tendons connect muscles to the bones. Muscles contract and stretch to move the bones.  The joints between two bones are protected by cartilage and synovial fluid, which lubricate the joints.  Fascia, a sheet of connective tissue, surrounds all the structures and holds them together. The brain and nervous system control and coordinate the functioning of the whole system, but it can only “work with what it’s got”.

Each part of the system is interdependent, and when these structures are damaged, smooth, well-coordinated movement suffers.  For example, we have all experienced how a sprained or strained muscle can limit our normal ability to walk.  In the same way, if the ligaments and tendons that hold the bones in the spine (called vertebrae) are sprained or strained, they won’t be able to hold the spine in the right place, making movement much more difficult and painful.  If a ligament holding two bones together becomes inflamed due to lack of movement, or say, a diet high in fats and refined sugar, it can fail in its job to restrict joint motion. Painful or jerky movement, and losing balance are big red flags that structures in the skeletal system and/or the nervous system are struggling to function. 

Many people attribute these symptoms to “old age”, but what most people don’t realize is that there is something they can do about it, before the structure of their body is so compromised that their only option is surgery or medicine.  Even then, if circumstances have required those measures, there are things people can do to support and maintain their musculoskeletal system so that it will regain a stronger ability to function.

Chiropractic and posture exercise work together to help your body heal damaged areas and strengthen your ability to move well as you age.  Chiropractic helps your body remove fixations/misalignments and restore the normal function of the joints.  Posture exercise helps strengthen and coordinate the muscles, ligaments and tendons that surround the joints, particularly targeting the ones that aren’t “with the program”.  As a result, balance, alignment and smooth coordinated motion improve and become part of every daily activity.

Our bodies are designed to move, but how they move and balance over time determines the health of those structures.

Next post we’ll talk about the 2^nd posture principle:

Posture is how you balance your body.