Dealing with chronic pain issues like low back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, hip pain, and other musculoskeletal problems has become the norm today. Are you a computer user? A mobile device monarch? Steady streamer of entertainment? Or a heavy commuter? If so, it’s likely that you already feel the effects of poor posture that accompany these activities (or non-active activities). So why choose posture therapy? The simple answer is that it can remind your body how it's supposed to work so you don't have to live in pain.
Poor posture may be something your mother told you to correct when you were young (and maybe still does today). And while Mom’s focus may have been on how you look, the effects of bad posture give many more reasons to seek a good posture alignment therapy program, including:
- Relief from chronic aches and pains
- Improved joint mechanics, motion, and movement
- Better balance and stability
- Decreased stress and tension, especially in your shoulders and neck
- Improved physical performance and function
- Better body system functioning (e.g. lymph, cardiovascular, nervous, etc.)
- Better mood and self-image
At Activ8 Posture, our specialty is blending the art and science of biomechanics using postural alignment analysis and treatment. We help fill the gap in current healthcare where symptom relief and pain management don’t always get to the root cause of the problem. If you’re looking to overcome posture dysfunction, become pain-free, and live your life to the fullest, we have a solution!
Can Better Posture Help Me with Symptoms Like Lower Back Pain?
Posture is much more than standing or sitting up straight. Better posture means better functioning of your body. It doesn't really matter if you're able to stand tall but can't bend over to put on your socks right? Of course not!
So, for us, good posture is the ability of your body to stabilize and move as needed in all of your activities. This includes the integrity of your body's parts in everything from gardening to golf, stairs to skiing, or couch surfing to climbing mountains. And, yes, even while sleeping you need good postural mechanics to not wake up with pain.
Where physical therapy focuses primarily on injury and symptom-related treatment, you may need more. With most PT, they help with much of the soft tissue healing and mechanics of your injured area. During or upon completing the rehabilitation program with your physical therapist, we serve to fill the gap with an exercise program that helps integrate your entire body.
Help With Your Physical Therapy Program
If you had shoulder surgery for a rotator cuff tear, for example, traditional physical therapy will use modalities and specific treatments related to the shoulder primarily. They will test strength, range of motion, and overall synergy with the shoulder complex for your normal activities. If you pass the ROM and specific muscle strength tests (or run out of covered visits), then you graduate and are on your own.
With a whole-body paradigm, we look at how your shoulder is interacting with the rest of your body alignment and mechanics. A common posture issue with rotator cuffs is shoulder rounding and a rounded upper back (kyphosis). We also commonly find that many people use their shoulder to compensate for a weakened and misaligned hip in movement patterns such as walking. Getting to the root cause of the problem not only helps your current shoulder issue, but can help prevent further shoulder damage in the future -- along with that problematic hip that can lead to many other issues as well.
And where chiropractic care may help restore your alignment to help relieve your cervical pain or lumbar pain, for example, correct posture is maintained long-term by the activation of muscles via your nervous system. In other words, your nerves and muscles need to be activated in your body to move your bones and joints to keep you in proper posture, and this is done by using specific exercises to wake up your body's musculoskeletal and nervous systems.
Working With Your Chiropractor
Depending on the services your chiropractor offers, many times the exercise component is not a specialty. By incorporating posture correction exercises and poses that realign and activate your postural muscles versus adjustments alone, you can experience more long-lasting results. If you feel good doing chiropractic, you will want to reinforce the changes by reminding your body of its role in maintaining your alignment -- and, you will be doing your chiropractor a favor!
Chronic Pain and Limitations Associated with Poor Posture
Charlie is a client who came to us with lower back pain. After surgery, he went through physical therapy, felt stronger, and started to become active again. He enjoyed working out, hiking, swimming, and golfing.
As Charlie started his normal routine of working 8-10 hours at his desk, plus his commute driving 30 minutes each way, and getting back into working out, his back muscles started tightening up again. While he didn’t have sciatica that went with the low back pain prior to surgery, he knew this wasn’t a good sign.
Charlie knew enough about his posture to recognize that slouching all day with his shoulder blades rounding was not helping. His range of motion in his workouts and especially his golf swing started to be affected. (If your back muscles are tight, it’s really difficult for your spine to rotate!) Additionally, he started to feel knee pain from compensating for the lost mobility.
A friend recommended him to us, and with our guidance, Charlie learned that his back tension was coming from misalignments in his upper and lower body. Beyond his slouch posture, muscle imbalances front-to-back and right-to-left needed to be addressed.
Within the first session, he was able to not only understand more about how his posture dysfunctions were affecting his pain but also started to feel better from the corrective exercises given to him as homework until his next session. And as Charlie progressed through his program, we were able to help him ramp up his workouts and help his golf posture as well.
Now, Charlie is a lifer. He understands the importance of maintaining good posture and function not only for his activities but for his overall wellness. Way to go Charlie!!
What is Individualized Posture Therapy?
While you can find a number of articles and videos giving posture correction advice, the difference with Activ8 Posture is that you work with a therapist to create your own individualized posture therapy program. So whether you have scoliosis, kyphosis, hunchback, head forward, and/or any of the number of postural deviations, we’re able to guide you in working on what is most important first.
Doing chin tucks for head forward, as an example, when you have a rounded upper back is not only unlikely to work but may cause you problems.
Our job is to put you in the driver’s seat of your body. We emphasize education and specificity to your needs as key components of our program. Your overall well-being and goals, whether for sports, hobbies, recreation, longevity, or optimizing your health, are what we keep in mind when tailoring your personalized program with you. If you’re ready to learn more about your body and how we can help you, contact us today so we can start the dialogue.
