Posture - Dealing With Pain at the Structural Roots

It\'s interesting that Tylenol is identifying poor posture as a significant factor in tension headaches in their recent ads. Of course they would like to push their pills as a way to get rid of the headaches. The better solution is to correct posture so the weight of the head is not carried inefficiently by the neck and shoulders.

There is an abundance of references stating that the head weighs 10 lbs. on average. Every inch forward of the ideal postural alignment creates an extra 10 pounds of stress on the neck and shoulders. It is very common to see people walk around with forward head posture that is 2 or 3 inches. Guess where tension headaches could come from?

Conditions associated to poor posture are commonly referred to as forward head posture, forward head/rounded shoulders posture, kyphosis, hunchback, dowagers hump, etc. They are frightfully common in our population among all ages and fitness levels. Parents wring their hands as they see their kids slouching. What to do? One of my favourite comics is \"Zits\". It is a hilarious and typical portrayal of perpetually 15 year old Jeremy, the slouch, and his teenage friends. Their posture, habits and attitudes drive his mom nuts, but also reflects on her own posture. One can only imagine what would change in his mother\'s profile if she stood up straight.

The evident consequence can be found in our growing seniors population. My 95 year old mother lives in a residence I call \"Walkerville\". They all require them to get around because they no longer represent Hominus Erectus. The only thing preventing them from crawling around on all fours is their walker or cane. Their center of gravity has changed. Their back has given up. This does not have to be!

There is a large group in the middle who are heading that way, through occupational/recreational activity, poor condition, excess weight carried at various key points, or even exercise. Look for another article on exercise and posture in another section.

Align the Spine:

This isn\'t just for looks. Most people are aware individual vertebrae are built to interconnect with even spaces in between them separated by a shock absorbing gelatinous cushion or disk. The muscles and ligaments that hold them together function best when every thing is lined up. Getting out of line requires the muscles on one side to let go, and the ones on the other side to tighten up. Staying that way for a long time causes the \"let go\" muscles to get weak and lazy. The \"tighten up\" muscles can hold tightly but only over a short range and they lose their elastic stretch capability. Asking them to stay that way causes pain. Asking them to suddenly do something different causes pain. Uneven pressure causes the gelatinous, shock absorbing disk to deform. Bone on bone contact is not pleasant. It really is best to keep them in line.

Preserve the Curve:

The body has a natural S curve that acts as a shock absorber, like the crumple zone on a car, to protect the occupants. In this case it is the inner organs. Not enough crumple results in injury from impact. Too much crumple crushes the occupants (the inner organs) and that causes injury. In addition, excessive curvature results in height loss, and loss of mobility. Casual observations when walking in public lead me to the conclusion that there is another factor here: Excessive weight at key points. It really adds to the pull in all the wrong directions.

There is a whole range of effects from poor posture beyond that, including fibromyalgia, breathing impairment and gas exchange (I feel another ezine article coming on), TMD and blood pressure mal-regulation. That\'s often why poor posture is associated with myofascial pain and trigger points in the shoulders that keep the therapy and massage industry busy. I have been told by back care specialists that virtually all people suffering from temporo mandibular disorder (TMD) have forward head posture. Fancy that!

Of course there\'s the obvious connection to spinal pain, including the neck, shoulders and low back pain. It is amazing that if you align the top, it changes everything right down to the feet, and proper alignment keeps things from wearing out as fast. By the way, restoring the curve on the lower spine changes the angle of the pelvis and hips. Wouldn\'t that help the hip and knee joints to last longer?

Restore the Core:

Returning the spine to its proper position is valuable only if you have the support structure to maintain it. Most practitioners know that. The body must know that the normal position is an aligned position. That has to be \"home base\" Most have lost that concept. Then supporting muscles must be adjusted to support that position. The tight muscles must be stretched, without injury, to let go. The weak muscles must be conditioned and strengthened. All the structures need to be mobilized to effectively work together under a new agreement. This must take place from the skull down to the base of the spine. Neck, shoulder, mid back and lumbar regions need to work together. The \"core\" is often seen as the power center in the abdominal/lumbar region. This really needs to take place all the way down the spine.

Doing a Google search under the keyword \"forward head posture\" or even \"forward head position\" will yield a host of solutions. They fall under the following categories:

• Go see a back specialist: orthopeadic surgeon, physical therapist, chiropractor etc. for corrections, exercise, massage, or even surgical intervention.
• Exercise: There are lots of suggestions and programs for sale that stretch and strengthen muscle groups.
• Get a posture changing device; something that applies pressure by either lying on it or applied by someone else. They often act to stretch out the tight muscles using your body weight and gravity.
• Get a restraining device: There are lots to choose from. Most are passive and can be worn under clothing to hold you in position, like a brace or a cast. Anyone who has had a cast on remembers the wonder of looking at the exposed limb when the cast was removed and wondering where the muscle went. These are called passive devices.
• Get an active support device. This is a device that trains and enables users to achieve a proper position to the point where they don\'t need it. Eventually it is just used for reference and occasional re-training.

The PostureJac belongs to the last category. Some people need a simple external device that will assist them, and portable enough to be part of daily life; retraining and conditioning the body to properly align and want to stay there. It was created by Dr. Howard Makofsky, Professor of Physical Therapy, and textbook author with over 30 years of experience. Our website, posturejac.com has lots of information on it and lots of reasons to straighten up. Non medicinal is better. In addition the PostureJac has these interesting accessories called MyoPressers that really do a number on those annoying trigger points. You can read more about them on the website or in other articles. More articles are on their way, but you can also do a Google search and see where the PostureJac pops up.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 18th, 2008 at 7:51 pm and is filed under Pain Management Doctors . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.