Changing posture and skeletal alignment - it's not as easy as you think...
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 เม.ย. 2012
- Can we change our posture? The answer is...yes, but it takes a lot longer, and a lot more work than you (and many other's think). In the video below, Dr. Spina discusses concepts regarding postural rehabilitation and training. Most important to note is the fact that exercise alone will NOT cause permanent changes to a persons posture. The idea that stretching "lengthens" muscles, and strengthening "shortens" muscles is an archaic concept best left in the 1960's. Current literature clearly demonstrates that muscle length remains highly unaltered unless said alterations are governed by nervous system input. This is otherwise known as neural drive. Footage was taken from an F.A.P. 'SPINE' seminar in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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As someone who suffers from back pain and thoracic spine misalignment, this has been the most helpful video I have ever watched on TH-cam. Thank you!
this really changed the way i thought about sitting and has helped me overcome so many of my chronic postural issues. thank you so much for putting this video out. incredibly succinct in your explanations as always. you're work is very much appreciated.
1. open the window, throw all chairs with reclined seating platforms out of the window, close window.
2. deal with the insurance cases for hit pedestrians and cars, use the media hype to warn all people about those kind of chairs.
Awesome video, thanks for clear and concise explanation!
Good stuff as always. Great to finally meet you.
"It's not as easy as you think."
Achieving and maintaining proper posture depends on many factors.
There is the concept of ergonomics. A table, a keyboard, a computer screen, an armrest or a chair that is not centered or is not at the proper height is going to throw that good posture off.
Even the distance to our keyboard, the space for our feet under our desk or the readability of the letters on our screen can determine whether proper posture can easily be maintained. A non-ergonomic set-up will result in a maladapted posture that will likely result in discomfort if we maintain it for several hours, despite using a "postural cue."
There are other postural cues to correct posture: "tuck in your chin" and "raise the chest."
I find them at least equally useful since they correct thoracic and cervical postural issues, which in turn result in a lumbar postural correction. Just try raising your chest and watch what happens to the low back and shoulders! It is less taxing than "Pull your shoulders back", which few people can maintain all day. Lifting the chest with tucked in chin will automatically corrects shoulder position, IF the flexibility and strength is there.
Poor core strenth, poor flexibility, specific tightness (muscles, fascia, or ligaments), arthritic conditions, postural adaptations due to pain, and mental/physical exhaustion will also negatively affect our posture. If we are too tight to maintain a postural cue, we will never maintain the postural cue and proper posture will never become a habit.
If we sleep on thick pillows that forces our head forwards, then we will achieve little with a postural cue such as "tuck in the chin", until we realize that forcing our spine in an unnatural alignment all night, will negatively affect our posture as we age. A small pillow that mostly supports the neck is all we need. Gentle "gravity assisted stretches" can be a tool to fix those tightnesses and because they require no effort, it lowers the muscle tone, which facilitates the stretch, unless pain evokes an increase in muscle tone. "Gentle" is the key word here!
Of course, flexibility without stability is unsafe. We therefore need to actively move within our new range and have tissue around a joint that is in balance or the inbalance pulls the joint out of center and starts to wear down the cartilage on the side where it scrubs, resulting in inflamation, pain and maladaptive postures in an attempt to ease this pain.
This requires one to also look at repetitive workloads/positions that often cause imbalances.
"It's not as easy as you think", because bad posture has many causes and solutions, tissue remodeling takes a time, and if we stop exercising, we will lose what we have gained.
A Physical Therapist should have the knowledge to diagnose and teach how to fix a postural issue. A google search and study of muscle imbalances, ergonomics, etc. will pay dividends for life.
Frank Beeckman - small pillows will not work for side sleepers, especially those with broad shoulders.
So how then do the majority of us fix our posture?
The chair used in the video is by no means 'optimal.' If someone was to for example be sitting at a chair all day I would recommend one that is more supportive. However in most instances, so long as the person sits into the back of the chair, the cervical spine's alignment will improve. There is no "optimal" really
this vid it's great!
I am just going through a bit of a nightmare with my shoulder due to my scapula (right) going off its own way due to my bad posture since ever. And for this, sfter surfing or climbing my shoulder kills me because I believe I am straining muscles that I shouldnt use and also off axe.
Is there any videos of exercise routing you could suggest to "re-educate" my muscle memory to bring my scapulas backwards?
Thanks a lot for your help!
You need repositioning of your myoskeletal alignment, and that could be done only by stretching, adjusting and exercising to maintain that position
Nice video. Regarding arm rests on office chairs, won't they encourage shrugging of upper traps and shoulder protraction? Wouldn't it be better for posture to remove the arm rests? Thanks for your thoughts..
very nice video!
I mostly disagree. Postural cues will do nothing if there is a muscle imbalance or insufficient flexibility. So as a prerequisite for the "neural drive" you must make it EFFORTLESS for the body to assume and maintain a certain position - which is achieved by strong muscles and elastic enough fascia. This is evidenced by the postural changes brought about by yoga training. Yogis do not become straight and tall because of some constant obsession with posture, it just happens automatically when the obstructions and "brakes" are removed. Same true for correcting pelvic tilt etc. The changes need to be global as there are subtle connections, though.
Another piece of evidence for the invalidity of the "neural drive" theory is the changes in posture resulting from overexertion of muscles. The same individual will have trouble maintaining correct relaxed posture for multiple days after heavy training if certain muscle groups are weakened (e.g. feet), and they will recover to good relaxed posture as the muscles "come back". So it's not a matter of thinking hard about better posture, it's a simple matter of having sufficient "body resources" to do the job.
@@clray123 What you say is mostly true, but these are different points.
Dr. Spina would undoubtedly agree with you that the body first needs adequate flexibility to be able to access a position.
The main point he's getting across here is that you won't cause lasting postural changes by simply exercising the "problem" muscles. Exercise alone isn't enough
How does one (or Yogis) remove the brakes specifically, so that we can have naturally good posture - no apt or kyphosis?
@@peter-5354 As described in the original comment, it's done by (strenuous) physical exercise - you loosen/stretch some tissues in the body which fix your "bad" posture while strengthening the muscles around for dynamic stability. Same thing also done by dancers, circus acrobats, (some) body builders etc. In these modern days you can also help yourself with massages (massage gun specifically, applied along the entire spine). I suspect it can come with some problems, as you lose muscles with age, the lack of support from tight connective tissue may become a problem. In other words, yogis with "good posture" get back pain, too.
Lovee u man thanks from india .. just found u followed u on fb thank you so much .. i was looking for some scapular strengthening .ur video came up on youtube . Excellent work . We have dearth of dr.s like u india . Since i am a runner i tend to loose my posture a lot and now only starting to corrct them slowly and slowly . Please do some posture correction ex vidoes for runners as well if u can . Big thank u to again 👍
Amazing!
I understand sitting with lordosis is better than slouching and flattening the back, but what if you have hyperlordosis and anterior pelvic tilt in the lumbar spine already (yet still presenting with protracted scapulae/forward head posture)?
The main reason for both slouching and APT is weak core muscles. Try hollow body holds. But also things like weak and stiff feet (inability to curl your foot like a ballet dancer would), caused by raised heels and arch support in shoes. Aggressive rolling/massage of feet soles, barefoot running and feet strengthening exercises will help.
where can I learn more in vancouver b.c? I'm always looking for ways to optimize my physiology for juggling singing and piano playing.
Amen!
there is so much more to it then just making sure there is lordosis in the lumbar to correct this habitual posture pattern. Cueing patients to set scapula down and back? I thought packing your scapula was a bad thing? I'm not too sure about this.
same problem my back pain.nack and thorax disc herniation with my back pain same fire
hi, how do you about kneeling chairs? it feels like making my back pain worse because no support and causing toe pain from feet hanging back. thanks so much
Our bodies seem to become ‘what we do all day’, with regard to posture. #Adaptation
Bones act, muscles react. Cueing well is very important - put retracting the scapulae and encouraging anterior tilt at pelvis is not optimal cuing - and will not permit good function of the Diaphragm and stimulate the Deep Stabilizing System.
The afferent information which comes from the head position, hand position and foot position/loading will all effect the position of the Central Tendon of the Diaphragm and therefore the way the fibres of the diaphragm act. To stimulate good stabilisation requires space at the key joints - through synergistic activity of the internal and external rotators. This stimulation comes from appropriate loading at hands (when quadruped) and at the feet. As well as the position of the coccyx and occiput.
This activity will allow the nervous system to know that support is required and will provide it - ahead of moving. Good movement is not possible without good support. It is good support that we need to find when we are re-educating the nervous system. This comes from checking key developmental patterns - and allowing the system to find these, get to know these and to benefit from the stimulation that these provides. It comes from using variety and complexity. A collapsed system will not simply 'uncollapse' from simple cuing - it needs a veritable feast of stimulation along with renewed understanding.
Thanx
Oouch, dont think thats realy true. Trained muscles become stiff and pull at rest. The thing about the biceps is that they very often is in an outstretch position so you constantly counteracting by passive stretching. Have you seen those guys who only trains the chest and how they get internal rotation and scapula protraction?
That sitting position on most chairs (even in the one in the video) appears to accentuate the forward angle of the head/neck, particularly when looking at something like a computer screen. Have you found that to be an issue?
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@Christopher Otis instablaster ;)
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The root of all suffering is obsession with the internal
Wtf?
why do you suppose that someone thinks that changing posture is an easy and fast process? who said that? you've just discovered warm water...
So much wrong info in these videos it’s not even funny...
Care to elaborate?