Posture 101

causes of poor posture

Posture is how you balance your body – Our bodies are constantly falling forward, but our muscles work to pull us back. The strength of your balance is determined by how well you know, and can control, where your body is in space.

Balance versus symmetry – We often think we are standing up straight because our brain is being told by our senses we are straight and symmetrical, though a posture picture or mirror reveals we are not. This is because our muscles reflexively work to balance us when we sit, stand, bend, sleep, exercise or work.  Overtime uneven stress causes the body to adapt and change, causing problems and pain.

Pain trains bad posture habits – When there is an injury, the body moves differently to avoid the pain. What we don’t realize is our body begins adapting almost immediately to the new movement pattern. So even after pain subsides, unbalanced patterns of motion persist.  Poor posture habits like sitting for hours at a time or jobs that require repetitive movements will also cause you to develop these asymmetrical adaptations.  Essentially strengthening and training harmful movement patterns. Because the human body must balance to stand and move, the brain adapts and adopts new muscle and joint positions. Adaptive motion patterns lead to more uneven wear on joints, creating a cycle of injury with persistent pain and weak balance.

Strengthening posture and balanced motion – StrongPosture® exercise is a bio-mechanically intelligent way to improve and strengthen your posture, while retraining proper motion patterns. By improving posture, symmetry and balance you reduce the risk of recurring flare-ups, prevent injuries and will keep your body moving well!

Do you think your posture is impacting how you look, move and feel? Contact us and tell us morewe’ll send you tips to get started!