CONNECTIONS to HEALTH

The importance of good posture I've just read the results of a survey which said that 94% of women found poor posture in men to be a turn off! Interestingly men weren't asked this question but a quick straw poll at the centre here came up with a similar kind of result. Well that seems to me a good enough reason by itself to make sure you have good posture; but what exactly is good posture? To understand the importance of posture sometimes it helps to think of the body as a building. The muscles provide the decoration and, to some extent, the strength, but if the structure itself isn't strong enough, the building is in danger of collapse. Good posture is about achieving a harmonious balance between the weights, forces and tensions within the body. It may sound tricky to do, but it is actually quite easy once your body has been shown how to do it. You will quickly begin to feel the beneficial effects. The various parts of your body will be working in harmony, the spine will be protected from strain, you'll be more balanced and you'll move better, and you will feel two inches taller, and three inches thinner. Fundamentally, the body is a vertical pink tube supporting the head, and it has two main hinges, one at the neck and one at the base of the spine. This structure houses your nervous system and supports the cavity that holds all your organs. In a tall building there are horizontal supports, they are usually the floors but in a tower or chimney they have to be put in. Likewise we have horizontal supports, our shoulder girdle and pelvic girdle. If a person was to stand in front of a plumb line it would fall right up their middle and their shoulders and hips would be level and parallel. From the side the plumb line would fall through the centre of their ear, shoulder, hip, knee and ankle. The abdominal organs rest in the pelvic basin and are held in the correct alignment with each other. The upper torso and the head are balanced on top of the pelvis, via the spinal column. When this structure is perfectly aligned we have a feeling of wellbeing and are able to enjoy a full range of natural movement, which is known as motility. To achieve whole-body alignment, you have to start at the body's centre of gravity and the point where all balance and alignment ultimately come from: the sacrum. Think of the sacrum as the foundations of a house. If the foundations are wonky then the walls are wonky further up. If the sacrum isn't sitting right then the spine will be wonky further up. If your spine is already painful, or locking up in places, or you have twinges you think you shouldn't be having, an assessment and a course of treatment by a Spinal Touch practitioner is essential. What is an optimal posture? Spinal Touch practitioners specialise in achieving optimal posture. It is the state of muscular and skeletal balance that protects the supporting structures of the body against injury or progressive deformity, whether at work or rest. Correct posture involves proper bony position and mobility to provide minimum stress on the joints while poor posture increases joint stress and can damage discs and surrounding tissues. Posture also involves the chain-link concept of body mechanics where knee pain or headaches can arise from distortions at the centre of gravity in the lower back. The effects of posture are far reaching, involving your psychology and mood as well as physical energy, respiratory, digestive and musculoskeletal systems. Causes of poor posture Ultimately the main cause of poor posture is the disturbance of the body's centre of gravity as compared to its centre of support, known as the counterweight. What causes the displacement of the centre of gravity? Poor work/study/resting posture at computer screens, desks and watching. Psychological factors, low self-esteem, shyness, tallness. Spinal developmental and degenerative processes. Neck and back pain leading to muscle guarding and avoidance postures. Excess weight causing sway-back, rounded middle-back, forward poking neck leading to spinal disc damage and nerve compressions (shoulder/arm pain and sciatica). The list goes on. Whatever the cause of the poor posture is, the main thing to do is to correct it. Spinal Touch is particularly safe and gentle and very effective at restoring the correct relationship between your centre of gravity and your counterweight. This then allows the body to come into optimum posture. How do you stand? Find out today. Contact Allyn, Sue or Alaine. Shouldn't you be driving the opposite sex wild, or at least not turning them off?

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