Tuesday, April 5, 2011

What is Good Posture?

Posture is defined as the typical position of the body – the relative arrangement of one body part to another. The implication being that good posture is something to aspire to and that it can affect our overall health. Yet interestingly, many of our clients and even trainers and therapists are examples of poor posture. We walk around with forward head posture, increased thoracic kyphosis (middle back curvature) and either flattened or excessive lumbar curvatures. .


Poor posture - forward head posture,
increased thoracic kyphosis
and excessive lumbar curvatures







Why then do you suppose everyone is so mentally conscious of posture, yet fails to demonstrate good alignment physically? I often correct my clients during training to: "Sit up straight , head back, activate the core!" and so on. Will it always be such hard work to be in good posture?

Aches and pains at the end of the day often result from improper use of the musculoskeletal system or from poor posture. Reactive hypertonus occurs in muscles that should not be activated continuously. Continuously poor posture with a forward head can cause ischemic pain to the upper trapezius muscles. Reactive hypertonus also occurs when muscles that must normally be activated to maintain posture are not challenged in their function (Klein-Vogelbach, 1990).

To be continued

Let's connect at info@gaiaadventures.com. I would love to learn what you think about my blogs. Is posture something that you deal with every day?

Catherine D'Aoust at GAIA Adventures
http://www.gaiaadventures.com
Stability Ball Workshops accredited for therapists across Canada
604 329.1257
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1 comment:

  1. CGamboaJune 17, 2012 at 6:22 PM

    Many times, our poor posture, or the relative position of our joints in space irregardless of sitting, standing, or being in motion is directly related to the activities that we do. Since our body reacts to stimulus 27/4, if all the stimulus we give it is sitting at a desk for hours on end, or driving in a car, then we will begin to 'look like' we sit all day long. The deep posture or stabilizing muscles aren't accustomed to holding the body upright any longer, so they soon become too weak to hold the joints in position when we do stand. The result is deterioration of good posture, and no matter how much you "think" about standing up straight, the body has lost the ability to do so. The solution is to break down our movements to foundational movements, re-introducing proper motion and stabilization to the feet, legs, hips, spine and shoulders. Specialists in this kind of biomechanics and posture rehabilitation can be found here: www.appliedbiomechanicsassociates.com

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