Familiar Memories
"STOP SLOUCHING!"
"STAND (or "SIT") UP STRAIGHT!"
Sound familiar? You probably heard these words from your parents, teachers, coaches etc.
More often than not, this probably went in one ear and out the other. We often chalk it up to stuff that the adults in our lives used to tell us along with things like "Eat your vegetables", "Do your homework!" etc.
"Boy those adults sure were annoying!" right?
However behind these words related to posture is actually very important wisdom.
Thinking about it, eating your vegetables and doing your homework weren't such bad ideas either :)
All Exercise is Good Right?
Even if one is diligent about exercising, bad posture can wreak havoc on our bodies and lead to debilitating injuries over time.
This all falls under the topic of biomechanics which has to do with the principles of mechanics applied to a living organism. In this case that living organism is you!
This also doesn't just apply to just how you stand or sit throughout the day but to exercise itself.
Run Forrest Run!
I was driving to the gym this morning and saw someone jogging down the road.
A healthy activity one would think right?
Well, it depends!
The way this fellow, and in fact the way I've seen "most" people jog, their running mechanics are so far from optimal (to put it mildly) that they are placing themselves in a perfect position to create injuries.
This is due to the extreme and repetitive ground reaction forces they are continuously placing on their misaligned structures.
Ground reaction forces mirror right back into the body the forces that are placed into the ground. Imagine what that does to one's body over time, and especially to someone who isn't using good technique!
The folks that benefit the most from this type of activity are the orthopedic physicians and other doctors that will be billing you for the services they provide after you hurt yourself (not to mention the companies who produce the drugs they'll most likely be prescribing for you).
Day to Day Posture
Even in less intense activities, having good posture is critical to one's health. People often don't think of "health" from a musculoskeletal standpoint. Rather, these types of pain are written off using colloquial expressions such as "tweaking their back", having a "stitch in their side" or "Crick in the neck" etc.
But any imbalance in the body is ultimately a "health" issue, it doesn't always have to involve an obvious illness or disease of some sort. For example, imbalances or impingements that effect the spine can directly impact the ability of the nervous system to communicate with certain parts of the body. Over time this can have drastic consequences for those parts affected.
Additionally, the body is a single interconnected unit so inevitably any dysfunction can end up snow balling into other problems that would seem totally unrelated to the initial injury.
To illustrate, you may hurt your back, which keeps you up all night from the pain, which causes you to become exhausted, which in turn causes your immune system to become compromised, which leaves you more vulnerable to getting sick etc.
While it's true that anyone can get hurt whether they use good posture or not, doesn't it make sense to try and lessen the chances of having to deal with this type of situtation if you have the option?
Starting From A Strong Foundation
Posture is such an important issue with me as a trainer that we spend a few minutes during each training session to make sure we have good alignment before we move into the more active part of the session.
I have my clients start from their feet and work their way up segment by segment through the "kinetic chain". The "kinetic chain" consists of all the interconnected parts that are used to create movement. Like any chain, it's only as strong as its weakest link.
Remember that old song "The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone's connected to the... etc..." Well, there was a lot of truth to that song. What happens in your feet can ultimately affect your neck.
I lived through this experience personally in a way that was very vivid. I broke my big toe. No big deal right? Well, after a week of hobbling around and not being able to walk properly, my lower back, upper back and neck were totally out of whack. Trust me, it's all interconnected!
If clients discover certain areas of concern, we'll need to put emphasis on specific flexibility and strength exercises to address those issues. This will help to create a more balanced structure from which to work from.
A common issue with people is having tight hip flexors that creates an excessive lordosis (lower back inward arch) from the top of their pelvis being rotated forward. This often shuts down their glutes which affects how they walk. So we'll want to create flexibility in the hip flexors and get them to be able to fire their glutes.
Without addressing this first we'd be putting training on top of a misalignment which could lead to injury.
Now if there are real pain issues that are present, a health professional will most likely need to get involved. But in all cases this initial "body scan" is a critical first step before moving into anything resembling training.
We are not only trying to create good alignment for the session itself but to build good postural awareness.
This awareness carries over throughout the session and ideally (and more importantly), through the rest of the day into each client's lives.
You can start creating this awareness right now by being aware of your body position as you are reading this blog. Then try to continue to do this during the rest of your daily activities.
Assessing Not Guessing
Ideally it pays to have someone with experience do a postural assessment of you. This way you'll know specifically what to concentrate on in terms of your posture.
The thing is, as people get used to being out of alignment, that misaligned position feels normal to them. In fact, "correct" alignment may feel strange at first. But you just start a little at a time and try to learn healthier patterns related to your overall posture.
By Scott Fishkind/Time4You Fitness
http://www.time4youfitness.com/
