The quality of our posture throughout life is determined by our lifestyle habits and behaviors. Good posture has many benefits including improved respiration, muscular efficiency, and decreased fatigue. On the other hand, bad posture has many negative consequences over time:
- Headaches
- Neck pain
- Jaw pain
- Shoulder pain
- Back pain
- Decreased lung capacity
- Depression
- Decreased work capacity and fatigue
- Arthritis
- Increased mortality
Our modern lifestyles and behaviors tend to lead to postural distortion. This starts early in our lives with prolonged sitting in the classroom and continues throughout life in our modern work environments.
The result is a “flexor-dominant” posture pattern with heads, hands, and hips flexed in front of us. This was described by Vladamir Janda in 1979 as he divided postural distortion into two main categories called upper cross syndrome and lower cross syndrome.
There is a predictable pattern of muscle dysfunction. Janda described these as “postural” muscles which tend to become weak and “phasic” muscles which tend to become tight or overactive.
The quality of your posture is determined by lifestyle habits and behaviors!
Lifestyle and behavior modifications to improve posture:
- Postural awareness – take the time to scan your posture periodically throughout the day, to correct poor posture
- Postural breaks while working – Click Here For Our MicroBreak Video
- Review your workout routine to make sure you’re not strengthening the postural distortion
- Practice good posture while working out
- Address dysfunction and compensation in the body, especially soft-tissue adhesion – Click Here For Dr. Yinh’s Video About What Adhesions Actually Are
At CMF, we offer an advanced approach when it comes to correcting this postural distortion using manual treatment and corrective exercises. Get started today! (561) 318-8070
