The posture that we hold
is the ultimate factor in deciding how much of our spine we use and how strong
our spine is. Having good posture while standing, sitting, sleeping and exercising
is very important and helps to ensure that the spine is resilient and hearty.
Bad posture leads to weak points in the spine that can limit mobility, worsen
appearance, make you susceptible to injury and also cause stress and mental
hardship. Poor posture is a physical as well as an emotional problem. Poor
posture has been documented to decrease approachability and as a key aspect of
body language it dictates how one is viewed by others. It affects mood,
confidence, and through interactions with a number of neurological systems it
affects our subconscious appraisals of the environment. To gain good posture it
is imperative to practice spine and core strengthening exercises, and in my
opinion these are the most important exercises one can engage in. I have spent
the last year working on my spinal posture and it has slowly transformed me
into a happier, calmer, more outgoing person.
Weak Points in the Spine
The human spine is made
up of a complex chain of ligaments, fascia, bone, and inter-vertebral discs,
and their health is dependent on the tone and strength of the surrounding
spinal muscles. There is a whole system of muscles that runs up and down your
spine and sits in between your vertebrae. By pushing and pulling against individual
vertebral bones, and other surrounding bones, spinal muscles help your core
bend, twist and turn and when they are strong they help you to move nimbly and
gracefully. Envision an “inner snake” that wants to stretch out, move, slither
and squirm in all directions. Your normal posture is like a straitjacket that
restricts its movement. A snake’s body is composed of vertebrae and vertebral
muscles (and ribs) with no limbs – just like our spine. There is a
metaphorical, limbless snake that makes up your spinal column. This is your
true core, and this is what you want to make flexible, coordinated and strong.
For most people the spine is inflexible, restricted, clumsy and debilitated. It
is very difficult for any athlete to perform properly without a strong and
balanced spine because the neck, shoulders and hips are actually anchored in
the spine, where they provide a base for the head, arms and legs. Joseph
Pilates called these core body segments the “powerhouse” of the body and
insisted that they are integral for a stable foundation for all movements. Most
yogis insist that “you are only as old and decrepit as your spine.” A weak
spine is probably the primary limiting factor for people trying to build
strength in their arms and legs. For this reason, the first thing I would
recommend to an aspiring body builder is yoga and Pilates. You may not have
noticed it but your spine has strong points and weak points, and the weak
points may be affecting you more than you know. In fact, many of the weak
points themselves are very difficult to notice.
We all underuse certain
muscles in our trunk. Holding your back, neck and shoulders in firmly upright
positions probably feels tight, and kind of intense. It’s a brittle, aching
pain almost as if the muscles are asking you to leave them alone – warning you
that excessive use will lead to injury. These are signs of muscle weakness, but
these areas can be opened up with prolonged practice, and are best explored
during a hot shower or bath, or in “hot” yoga. At one extreme these weakened
areas can be responsible for spinal deformities and at another they can lead to
mildly uncomfortable dislocation (subluxation) of vertebrae. This happens
because the spinal muscles are not strong enough in certain areas to hold the
vertebrae in an ideal posture relative to the force of gravity. People go to a
chiropractor in order to have these dislocations aligned. The dislocations or
subluxations can be very slight but still cause discomfort. When a chiropractor
performs an alignment the spine becomes neutral again but because this does not
actually strengthen the muscles in the back, the vertebrae fall quickly back
out of alignment, sometimes within hours. The cracking associated with
chiropractic is often a sign of degenerative activity stemming from disuse and
muscle atrophy. Traumatic accidents to the spine often cause disuse of injured
spinal segments and these areas are more likely to crack, become weak and
painful and are susceptible to recurring injury. The cracking does produce
endogenous morphine, temporarily relieving pain and brining patients back for
future adjustments. Most chiropractors do not insist that their patients
exercise the “opened” areas after adjustments and this is why there is no solid
evidence for the efficacy of chiropractic and why it has not been shown to be
better than physical therapy. Any joints in your spine that feel tight, weak or
that crack should be attended to. I don’t think it is necessary to crack these
joints, but cracking them gives you a good idea for where the weakness is, and
what areas need to be targeted. Once you can locate where the cracking or
tightness is coming from, try to hold that posture so that the adjoining
muscles can be exercised. You will be surprised by how quickly these tight and
sore muscles “open up” in response to exercise.
Spinal medical experts
have noted that segments of the spine, from the bottom to top (coccyx to
atlas), that go underused resemble, and have many of the same physiological
properties of cadaver spine. I believe that the main reason that some segments
of the spine go into disuse is because we have lost conscious control of them.
This is another side effect of disuse and happens because the muscles do not
receive signals from or send signals to association cortex. Basically, the only
time these muscles becomes active is when they are signaled by subconscious
motor systems. Whenever we fail to use muscles in our body the muscles shrink
and go through a process called muscle atrophy. Unfortunately we are forced
compensate for these weak muscles by becoming tense in other areas. The muscles
that we use to compensate become excessively tense and tight and go through a
process called “muscle shortening.” I realized that muscles throughout my
spine, and my shoulder girdle (pectoral, scapular, collar bone, and rotator
cuff) had become weak, stiff and painful. We engineer the use of the weak
muscles out of our lives and find ways to get around having to use them and
this leads to a physique that is poorly balanced and ungainly. Because of
muscle atrophy and muscle shortening they can become dangerously weak and
contribute to both diffuse bodily discomfort and psychological angst. My own
anxiety is much improved from attending to my posture and stretching and
strengthening the many postural muscles in my back and shoulder girdle.
Spinal Weakness and Psychological
Stress
Bad posture is a social
signal that communicates defeat. Slouching forward, bowed head, rounded
shoulders and looking down constitute a mode of operation for many mammals
(especially monkeys and apes) to signify their inferiority and to defer or
subordinate themselves to the dominant or alpha animals. I believe that
subordination goes hand in hand with anxiety for evolutionary reasons. Acting anxious
keeps you from being perceived as a threatening competitor. If we adopt this
syndrome of defensive postures we will inevitably develop the concomitant
psychological symptoms too. In other words, if we do not attend to and improve
our posture we are conditioning our nervous system to operate on nervous energy
and forcing it to assume that our environment is oppressive and hostile. All in
all, monkeys use poor posture to keep from getting attacked. They are sending a
signal that they are already defeated (possibly handicapped) and are not trying
to challenge others. It can be the same with humans. When I first went out on
long walks exaggerating my posture, standing tall and looking upwards, I could
tell that other pedestrians questioned my motives and were even moved to
suspicion and anger. My posture looked fake because I was standing straight
without the postural musculature that should accompany it. The point is – you
can’t develop this musculature unless you work on it. Some people got genuinely
angry seeing me standing erect and looking upwards. This is why I chose to walk
and stretch after dark, outdoors, by myself at first. Once the postural muscles
become stronger, standing erect looks genuine and people aren’t offended by it
and don’t question it. I believe that in classrooms, in the workplace and even
within families we are constantly sending each other nonverbal feedback,
practically bullying each other into slouching. When someone else stands
straight we have a natural inclination to be offended. We feel we must either stand
straighter, or try to pull them back down. What we should do is applaud and
support them while being reminded to monitor our own posture.
I personally think that
vertebral subluxations interfere with the proper functioning of the
parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for calming various organ
systems and “resting and digesting” in general. In fact, many parasympathetic
nuclei are closely integrated with the spine. It has been shown that most
calming drugs and neurochemicals such as opiates and oxytocin act on receptors
in regions of the spinal cord that regulate the autonomic nervous system,
especially the parasympathetic branch. An explicit link between spinal weakness
and inactive spinal parasympathetic nuclei has not yet been established, but I
believe it is there. There is solid evidence to link spine weakness to stress
though. It has been well-documented that poor posture raises the diaphragm
preventing the lungs from being able to take a full breath. Shallow breathing
activates the other branch of the autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic
branch, which is responsible for “fight or flight." For this reason bad
posture puts us in a continual mode of defensiveness, and anxiety. Slumping
posture is also known to impede the ability of the lungs to expand and inflate
fully. Shallow breathing is a cause of anxiety and it exacerbates other
psychological disorders. I think that well-researched and well-produced
programs or regimens of postural exercises should be readily accessible to
psychiatric patients and to the broader community at large so that people can
open up their breathing passageways and experience more calmness. I am currently
developing such a program using stretches and exercises that I think are best
using anatomical and “psychoneuroendocrinological” criteria - so stay tuned.
Types of Poor Posture that Promote Spinal
Weakness
An ideal posture is
normally defined as one where the body’s segments are aligned so that the least
amount of energy is required to maintain a desired position. A “neutral” or
properly aligned spine shows three curves from the profile:
2) A forward curve (convex posteriorly) in the upper back called “thoracic kyphosis.” To reduce excessive thoracic kyphosis pull your shoulders back, and then lean backwards instead of slumping forwards. Proper neck posture complements and reinforces this curve.
3) A backward curve (convex anteriorly) in the
lower back called “lumbar lordosis.” To reduce lumbar lordosis tilt your hips
backward and tighten your buttocks, rather than tilting your hips forward and
sticking out your butt.
These curves can be excessively pronounced, or
not pronounced enough. For most people, they are excessively pronounced. Viewed
from the front or back the spine should be totally straight, any curvature to
the right or left side is called scoliosis. Scoliosis is rare, but side bending
is important to strengthen the lateral spinal muscles. Look at your posture in
a mirror and look for the three curves in your profile. Do any look unnatural
or excessively pronounced? A neutral spine with no excessive curvature is
likely a healthy spine but not necessarily a strong one.
The two main types of
poor posture are:
1) Rounded and elevated shoulders and a jutting-forward
head position.
2) Forward tilting of the hips, increase curve of
the lumbar spine and protruding of the stomach.
Exercises that Helped
Me:
My main problem is that
I developed misalignments from sitting long hours in front of my computer
keyboard. Keyboard use is a major cause and contributor to “shoulder
impingement syndrome,” where the shoulders, shoulder girdle, neck and back can
be significantly thrown out of alignment from sustained reaching for the
keyboard and mouse. When poor posture begins to feel normal, the muscle memory
for good posture can be lost. Thus awareness of my posture at the computer was
the first major obstacle. I bought a new computer chair, pulled the mouse and
keyboard to the end of the desk near my stomach and I stopped slouching down in
the chair by adding pillow. I found a cylindrical pillow that I placed
vertically to support my lower back that allowed me to push my shoulders back.
If I were to have
targeted and engaged these muscles, such as my rotator cuff, during heavy
weight lifting, I would have damaged them badly. In fact, the weakness in these
areas made it uncomfortable to lift weights. Many people go to the gym to work
out their biceps, chest and triceps, but they neglect the weakened core muscles
that are far more important aesthetically and functionally. Case in point, I
badly injured a scapular muscle and a collar bone muscle 3 years ago when
wrestling a friend despite the fact that I had been lifting weights. The
injuries kept me from exercising, and stretching further exacerbating the
problem. When my posture was at its worst, lifting weights was so uncomfortable
that it was outright stressful. I took the last 6 months off to work on
strength, range of movement, and flexibility in my spine and shoulder girdle
and now weight lifting is exhilarating. During those six months I focused on
fluid stretching movements in specific, tight muscles, while lightly flexing
closely connected muscles.
In order to strengthen
the affected muscles, you want to use very light weights, or no weights at all.
I chose to go on long walks, working on standing straight and often on keeping
my arms in the air, forcing them to work against gravity. I was focusing on
using the postural muscles that felt tight and uncomfortable. At first, the
uncomfortable positions were everywhere. They take trial and error, and
ingenuity to pinpoint. I also started yoga, pilates, gymnastics, martial arts
and swimming and these exercises helped me better locate and target my weak
points.
Probably the most
significant weakness that I had was in between my shoulder blades. The core
upper back muscles opposite my chest were severely atrophic and were painful
every morning upon waking. A number of back exercises, and stretches in this
area profoundly improved this. Pulling my shoulders back and pushing my chest
out during walks contributed. Changing a two-decades old mattress that I
slumped down into throughout the night helped as well.
· -I used to walk around
with my shoulders elevated, continually using my trapezius to raise them. This
is a terrible habit (and a symptom of shoulder impingement syndrome). Instead,
focus on pressing the shoulders down as if you were carrying a heavy load in
the hands. This is difficult and painful at first but it is truly a body
builder’s posture. Significant chest, back and shoulder girdle strength can be
attained by building these muscles into this posture. To kick start the posture
walk around your block with a weight in each hand and focus on pulling the
shoulders down and slightly rotating the shoulders flexing and incorporating
all of the muscles in the upper torso (the entire back and chest). Eventually
you will be able to flex all of these muscles tonically (all the time) simply
by pressing down on the shoulders.
· -I had a loud cracking
sensation whenever I laid on my back and pulled my head up, chin to my chest.
After taking yoga I found out that weakness in the muscles of my lower cervical
vertebrae were responsible. After class these muscles were always sore. Doing
yoga once a week and targeting these muscles on walks, and before bed helped significantly.
Walking with the head erect and the chin tucked to the chest helped as well.
These exercises actually removed a hunch (an “s”) in my neck that I had for
years. I had cervical vertebrae that stuck out of the back of my neck in a
pronounced way that became straight again though strengthening. I thought that
the hunched neck would have to be mechanically manipulated back into place;
however, all that was needed was to strengthen the surrounding muscles.
-Strong abdominals help
to build a strong back. Aside from sit ups and crunches, try walking around the
neighborhood while flexing the stomach muscles. This should be done flexing all
of the abdominals - from chest to groin.
Alternatively walk around with your gut sucked in, using Pilates’ navel to
spine posture. After a few walks these muscles learn to remain flexed while
walking and thus become stronger and burn more central fat on their own. Of
course this is the idea with everything else mentioned here - to build the
muscle memory and strength necessary to maintain proper and healthy posture
without having to think about it.
Here are my 5 favorite books on posture, the ones that have helped me the most:
Here are my 5 favorite books on posture, the ones that have helped me the most:
I think that it is funny that some people neglect the importance of your spine to your overall health. Practicing good posture will help you immensely with your health. However, I didn't realize that walking with your shoulders up can be detrimental to your health. I'll have to stop doing that and start walking the way that you suggested. http://www.davenportchiropracticpain.com
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