Why is correct posture and spinal alignment important?
“Posture affects and moderates all human functions, both consciously and unconsciously, from breathing to hormone production to thinking”.
Journal of Pain Management
Why should you be concerned about posture? Your head is a little off center...who cares? Your medical exam just showed you are the epitome of health, right?
Wrong! If you have postural faults, however minor, your health will be less than optimum. The greater the postural distortion, the less optimum your health will be . It is that simple.
Abnormal posture not only produces pain. More importantly, over time it also causes:
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degeneration of the discs, vertebrae, ligaments and muscles of the spine, and nerves of the central nervous system (CNS)
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some “organic” disorders (meaning disorders of internal organs and systems)
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abnormal motion of joints and body parts, predisposing to repetitive strain and other soft tissue injuries
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reduction in quality of life measures
How do I improve posture and spinal alignment?
In my practice, when a chronic pain patient begins care I first examine their postural alignment. I may order spinal x-rays to assess the state of their spine and to rule out certain spinal conditions. It is also important to see if the alignment and shape of their spine is “within normal limits” compared to an ideal model. If x-ray measurements reveal an area of the spine is displaced outside the normal limits, the patient may be a candidate for Structural Rehabilitation. I will then design a specific treatment plan, and at various intervals of care take comparative x-rays to gauge progress and measure the objective changes.
To improve posture and spinal alignment, I use science to diagnose the problem, and use mirror-image exercises and mirror-image traction to "remodel" the patient’s particular alignment issue. I only use techniques that have demonstrated consistent, published evidence of effectiveness in correcting the shape of the spine and posture towards an established normal value.
The most basic example of this is reducing forward head carriage in people with neck pain. It is just common sense that having your head project ahead of your torso is going to put stress on the neck and back. The same idea applies to the whole spine. Each area of the spine has particular and well-defined deviations from normal. The techniques I use focus on identifying the specific type of deviation a patient may have, and pairing this displacement with a unique, precise protocol for correcting the problem.
Let’s take the example of head posture and neck curvature. A person could have perfect head and shoulder posture where, when viewed from the side, their head is perfectly seated on their neck and shoulders. Everyone would agree that this person has great posture. But what if this person was suffering from chronic neck pain? How could a doctor or therapist who only focused on posture help? By taking an x-ray of this patient’s neck, one would be able to see if the patient had a normal curve where the peak of the curve points towards the throat, or a reversed curve where the peak of the curve points towards the back of the neck. Thus, an x-ray allows one to determine whether this person with perfect posture has a neck with a normal curve or an abnormal curve. This gives trained doctors options for treatment where traditional posture-focused treatments would run out of options.
This is why I look deeper than just posture. By assessing spinal x-rays, I can determine the curvature and alignment of the spine. This is critical, because posture alone does not provide information about spinal alignment.
