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As a dedicated outpatient Occupational Therapist for the past fourteen years, I have truly seen the benefits of posture exercise. Specializing in upper body and burn injuries at a level one trauma center, I have gained a thorough understanding of the body as an integrated whole and believe in a holistic approach. Incorporating postural and body balancing exercises into my patient's treatments has really made such a positive difference.
Training with BodyZone provided an advanced understanding the key concepts of strong posture (motion, balance, patterns, compensation and adaptation), and helped me become a better therapist. When an injury occurs, the patient will find ways to avoid movement of the painful stiff area. The longer the patient compensates the more permanent the problem becomes. CPEP training taught me excellent techniques to isolate target areas and cue patients to avoid compensations. For example, training a patient to do a pelvic tuck while raising the arm to gain shoulder motion will prevent them from arching their back, which is a common compensation.
Not only have my coaching skills improved, but my ability to educate my patients to better understand their body, their injury and how to get the most out of their home exercises have improved. I believe in empowering those I work with to become active participants in their wellness, and Dr. Weiniger's programs teach this as a priority. BodyZone's educational presentations and patient handouts have been an excellent resource to reach this goal. Many of my patients have been impressed and comment that the information was so helpful for their recovery.
I have realized the endless benefits of strong posture for people in their daily lives, not just to treat problems but avoid them all together. I have started a wellness education company to make this knowledge readily available to everyone. Posture training will be the cornerstone of the services we provide and will ensure my clients achieve lifelong benefits. A balanced body leads to a balanced life and BodyZone has trained me to be an expert!
Raina Trevenna, CPEP, OT, CHT |
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As a Doctor of Chiropractic, my job is to meet the healthcare needs of my patients which typically involves interventions for back and neck pain relief. Since research shows 98% of back pain to be the result of mechanical dysfunction within the body, the most effective and logical approach to treatment is to correct the mechanical dysfunctions present. To achieve this result, we must first remove any biomechanical restrictions to body motion. Then we must teach the body to move with proper balance and alignment to reduce the chance of the dysfunction returning.
To remove restrictions to motion, there are many procedures I utilize in my practice. The chiropractic adjustment is used to restore joint motion and research supports it as an effective procedure for this purpose. When it comes to dysfunction within muscles, fascia, ligaments, and tendons, there are a variety of techniques that can be employed. An extremely effective system of treatment I utilize is called FAKTR-PM. Explained briefly, it is a method of combining instrument assisted soft tissue manipulation with movement based therapeutic exercise performed in a manner that provokes a pain response. Treatments under this system have been shown to provide results when other systems have failed and in a relatively short amount of time. Adjunct therapies such as kinesio taping are also encouraged under this system.
The second part of my two part system of biomechanical rehabilitation involves the implementation of Strong Posture exercise. The goal of Strong Posture exercise is to improve Balance, Alignment, and Motion so that the body moves in a biomechanically efficient manner. This minimizes the force placed on the various joint and muscle structures, thus allowing the body to perform optimally and slow age related joint degeneration.
Simply speaking, I utilize chiropractic adjustments and FAKTR-PM to remove restrictions to motion, and the Strong Posture exercise system to teach the body to control and maintain proper balance, alignment, and motion. The combination of these therapeutic interventions correct the underlying cause of most pain syndromes and will go far to help bring fast relief to those who seek it and long lasting relief to those committed to the Strong Posture protocols.
Dr. Nicholas Marchesani, DC, CPEP |
How do I feel posture exercise is beneficial as an anti-aging tool? Good posture is not only beneficial to your health, but also adds a more sculpted appearance. For instance have you ever seen a young mother slumped over her child making her look much older. As an ongoing repetition she is also causing physical damage such as neck, back, and muscle pain.
Good posture will cause a person to "Stand Taller and Live Longer" because it eliminates many of the health problems associated with poor and slouching posture. Our body is trained to move and adapt how we teach it to. Therefore, a really strong posture comes from within using the strength of your core muscles, which is the most important anti-aging tool. By incorporating the posture exercises into your everyday life you are not only gaining strong posture but years onto your life.
I have presented sufficient evidence that proves good posture is indeed a tremendous anti-aging tool. A few of the health issuesgood posture helps to prevent are osteoporosis, back pain, fractures and respiratory conditions. Therefore, using posture exercise to retrain a poor posture will not only improve your physical well-being but will slow down the aging process.
Wendy Wright
Hill Chiropractic Center
Madison, WV |
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The Pain Cycle consists of four aspects: Injury, Pain, Body Compensation, and Unbalanced Motion.
The Pain Cycle typically begins when an injury occurs to the body, which results in the experience of pain. In an attempt to avoid, mitigate or eliminate this pain, the body compensates in its posture and movements. This, in turn, creates unbalanced motion adaptations, which then set the stage for further injury. And around and around this cycle we go, with ever widening and escalating effects.
If not resolved quickly, a person can become enmeshed in a seemingly endless litany of aches and pains in an ever changing and growing list. Sometimes the injury is not from a sudden and painful trauma (known as a macro-trauma). The injury that occurs may be a micro-trauma, which is an injury due to a cumulative trauma (one that is seemingly innocuous at the time but which results in injury as the cumulative effects of the motion or posture build up over time to precipitate the injury.)
This is the simplest form the pain cycle can take and is the easiest way to explain and present it. It must be understood, however, that this cycle often is a result of breakdowns in several aspects of the cycle simultaneously.
The pain cycle can be entered or instigated at any of the 4 aspects of the cycle, not just via injury. Body compensations are often occurring in many areas and not all of them are the result of an injury and a desire to avoid pain. Poor or weak posture habits (e.g. slouching and couch potato habits, standing with weight on one leg, forward head posture, to name just a few) are frequently a weak link in the overall good health of the body. This can result in adaptive body motions (as one would expect from the cycle enumerated above) but it can also result in pain. So, the Pain Cycle does not necessarily only move in one direction.
Pain alters posture, motion and breathing patterns. Changes in breathing patterns can cause postural changes such as: hypertonic scalenes, upper trapezius and levator scapular muscles resulting in fibrosis and trigger points in these muscles; decreased cervical and thoracic motion; costal cartilage sensitivity; and even weak abdominal muscles, tight erector spinae, pelvic floor weakness and visceral stasis, which may include urinary incontinence.
Dysfunction may become self-perpetuating. Pain may be due to disturbed function without any structural damage. Adaptation occurs over time as a result of how we deal with pain, and this, in turn, can affect posture and how we live our lives.
The 4th Posture Principle states: The body learns what you teach it-for better or for worse. The 5th Posture Principle states: Changes in posture and motion cause the body to change-for better or for worse. The Pain Cycle may result when we teach the body poor posture and unbalanced motion.
In order to break the Pain Cycle, one must intervene in the appropriate aspects of the pain cycle. Many times a program such as the StrongPostureTM program can be a significant part of an appropriate intervention.
Dr. Susanna Wetsel, DC, CCN, DABCN
(References for this article, Stand Taller ~ Live Longer, 2008, S. Weiniger, and The Five Posture Principles, 2000, S. Weiniger) |
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Posture Exercise as an Anti-Aging Tool.
Anti-aging is all the rage in health care today. Everyone wants to detoxify, or take antioxidants or eat organic food. Exercises of all types from Yoga to mountain biking are promoted as anti-aging methods. All are positive lifestyle changes that will help. No one is talking about posture and its vital link to good health.
In his book Stand Taller ~Live Longer; Steven Weiniger, D.C. gives this statistic: People who are hyper-kyphotic (bent over posture) have a higher mortality rate than people without bent over posture. The inference is even if you do all the ‘right' things but ignore your posture you can still have a shortened lifespan.
As we age, the impression is we get old and stiff. We get stiff because of poor posture. Poor posture leads to using the body in incorrect ways. This is a normal compensating factor but, it causes a great deal of stress to the body. We use our muscles to balance our body. With poor posture some muscles are underused and some overused. This leads to stiffness and degeneration. Stiffness is associated with aging.
So as part of any anti-aging strategy, Posture Exercises should be an integral part of any routine.
Dr. Scott Stratton, DC |
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Chiropractic and Posture Exercise work well in my practice due to their complementary action on the spine and extremities. The primary protection of the joints being the muscles are benefitted by the strengthening and stretching that occurs with the posture exercises. This helps create stability in the joint and yet allows for flexibility.
When there is a restriction in the range of motion of the joint, the adjustment will remove that restriction and allow for the joint to move freely again. Without the stability from the muscles, the joint would have the potential to be hyper-mobile.
Hyper-mobile and restricted joints can both cause pain due to the stress put on them. Compensation occurs when ligaments and muscles are over-stretched in the case of the hyper-mobility. The stress put on the joint by adaptive and compensatory changes as say, in a frozen shoulder, can cause difficult-to-diagnose pain patterns.
Bodies were designed to move, and if we can use the adjustment and conscious exercise to keep that motion good we will have better outcome for our patients and ourselves.
Dr. Randal Ringsage, DC |
The Pain Cycle
The Pain Cycle begins with an injury. The injury then causes pain. Tissue damage occurs when there has been some type of trauma such as auto accidents, injuries at work, home or playing sports. Then the body learns to move in a way to avoid the pain.
When we avoid the pain, our body leads to stress in the joints and imbalance in the muscles. When we become unbalanced, we experience poor posture. Weak posture causes more stress and then the pain cycle trains our body's patterns to adapt.
Over a period of time, our body's compensation and adaptation continues to weaken balance and posture and our joints become unstable. This cycle produces more injuries, chronic pain and degeneration of the joints.
The problem is the pain cycle and the solution is the motion cycle. We can break the pain cycle and replace it with the proper balance of motion. When our joints move freely, our muscles will become strong and flexible. Breaking the pain cycle is a choice we all need to make.
Rhonda Kendrick, CA |
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Posture Exercise: A Tool for Anti-Aging
Posture exercise is the best possible anti-aging tool available! It is a known fact that exercise is the primary mode of aging well. According to studies, exercise alone can add three years to a person's lifespan. These specific exercises strengthen your balance, alignment and motion to improve your health and quality of life.
Posture exercise improves flexibility, which decreases premature aging and the chances of injury. It does this by diffusing the effects of excessive mechanical stress. Specific balance training reduces the number of falls a person might experience. This is significant because once a fall occurs, "there is a 50% chance of another fall within six months" as noted by cdc.gov. Strong balance improves physical performance and reduces the fear of falling. This enables aging people to move about independently. With the knowledge of pelvic tuck and one-leg-balance, they can assess any given situation, such as maneuvering stairs or squatting down to pick up an object. Then they are empowered to do a pelvic tuck followed by stepping or squatting with ease.
Day to day life makes the body move in patterns, compensating to keep it from feeling pain or discomfort. Because of that compensation, some muscles shorten while the others overstretch. Common ailments such as lower back pain, neck and shoulder pain, and headaches are all conditions that can be reduced by strengthening those weakened muscles.
Each generation is aging better and better by educating themselves and taking care of their bodies. Learning these posture exercises and perfecting them one by one will allow you to be more in control of how your body moves. Controlled movements keep you moving confidently for a more active, healthier lifestyle.
Nicole Howard, C.M.T.
Advanced Alternatives in Spine & Health Care
Richmond, VA |
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