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July 4th - Your Freedom to Choose

7/2/2016

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"As you may know, on July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies claimed their independence from England, an event which eventually led to the formation of the United States. Each year on 4th of July, also known as Independence Day, we celebrate this historic event. 

No matter how you celebrate the 4th, you can have your own “freedom day” starting today!
​

​The freedom to look and feel your best, every single day of the year." 


YOU HAVE A CHOICE because
YOU HAVE THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE
 What does freedom truly mean to you? 

Could it mean to be free of pain and restriction, free from recurrent injuries, recurrent limitation, accelerated aging, free from future surgery, free from limiting beliefs?
 
​
Freedom includes the right to make your own choices about your health. 

Everything we need to be healthy is available even if it's NOT covered by insurance; often we have to search deeply for it.

While it’s not totally free to us, we are free to decide how we will use our precious resources such as time, energy, money. 

We are free to choose to risk giving responsibility to someone else for our pain or to take responsibility for it ourselves.

We are free to choose to make our health and body's problems a priority or not. We have the freedom to keep digging for answers and solutions even when we are told there are no more solutions just live with "it."

As you begin your holiday weekend, we hope you’ll consider Independence Day to be not only a national holiday; it can be your personal holiday, too.

It's your body, it's your freedom, it's your choice.

Happy 4th!
The Posture Clinic


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When to Say No to Your Doctor

3/22/2016

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This past January when I was discussing various topics with my doctor, instead of asking again if I would agree to a Colonoscopy she said to the note taking nurse/assistant working the computer, "You see she's interested in alternative treatments, bio-identical hormones.  We've asked several years in a row for the Colonoscopy, she is most likely not going to get one." The doctor turned to me with eye to eye contact and said "Are you?"  I said, "No."  

Then she provided an explanation for the repetitive badgering about Colonoscopies that their medical practice receives extra money if a certain threshold quota of patients receiving Colonoscopies is reached. 

OK well, some say it's preventative medicine.  Some say the best way to retain health is to eat right, exercise, manage stress and stay out of the doctor's office.
Either way HERE is a great article "When to Say No to Your Doctor" to file away for the next time you are asked by your doctor to take a drug or get surgery etc to take this into account.  

One excerpt:
"The United States spends roughly twice as much per capita as most of the nations of Western Europe, whose citizens on average outlive us by a couple of years. Our own national Institute of Medicine says we waste $210 billion annually on treatments of no or marginal benefit. In a study last year, researchers from the Mayo Clinic went through 10 years of the New England Journal of Medicine, from 2001 through 2010. Of the established tests and procedures reevaluated in studies in the journal, 40 percent were found to be worthless."
"In the U.S., we don't stress preventing disease," Brawley says. "We stress finding disease early and treating it, which is a shame."
Make no mistake: A good doctor is, or should be, your most trusted resource if you're sick. If you're not sick and he wants to treat you anyway, that doesn't necessarily make him a bad doctor. But it does make him a player in a system that operates according to the unspoken and often unexamined assumption that more treatment is better for the patient. It's unquestionably better for the financial health of the stakeholders in the system: the doctors, the pharmaceutical industry, the health-insurance companies, and the hospitals. If you don't know how the game is played, the odds go up that you'll wind up the loser."
This article may be of interest to you as well:
Surgeries You May Be Better Without click HERE
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NECK Pain - Look UP

3/18/2016

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Good posture.  Poor posture.  Debilitatingly painful posture.  
Good to see more and more research (below) confirming the negative impact technology is having on the human body.  

It is FANTASTIC to see more and more research confirming the negative impact technology is having on human POSTURE and human HEALTH.

If you use a "device" meaning a smart phone, iPad or a computer, better look in the mirror or at a photo of yourself and see your POSTURE issues. It could explain the CAUSE of your pain - poor posture.
​
Please observe the picture below, I have drawn in the position the entire SPINE has likely migrated to in red. 
 The researchers only looked at the cervical spine, the neck.  THEY DID NOT show what total spinal shape changes the rest of the spine has taken on.  

The spine must maintain the original "S" curve to position the head and shoulders in a healthy fully functioning position.  Not only is the neck under 60 lbs of strain holding up the forward head but the entire spine is at risk.  You can NOT stick your head out and hang it over the phone or desk without slouching the REST of the spine AND compromising your pelvic, hip, knee and ankle positions
.  The body works as a whole, not separate parts. See this blog post on that topic.
 

The following is an EXCERPT from a Research Study by a Spine Surgeon.  

Click HERE for the full Research Study from Surgical Technology Intern'l Journal 

Assessment of Stresses in the Cervical Spine     Caused by Posture and Position
by 
Kenneth K. Hansraj, MD, Chief of Spine Surgery
NY Spine Surgery & Rehabilitation Medicine
 

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"Billions of people are using cell phone devices on the planet, essentially in poor posture. The purpose of this study is to assess the forces incrementally seen by the cervical spine as the head is tilted forward, into worsening posture. 
Good posture is defined as ears aligned with the shoulders and the “angel wings,” or the shoulder blades, retracted. In proper alignment, spinal stress is diminished. It is the most efficient position for the spine. Amy Cuddy and associates1-3 showed that high-power posture posers experienced elevations in testosterone, increases in serotonin, decreases in cortisol, and increased feelings of power and tolerance for risk taking.   

Low-power posture posers exhibited the opposite pattern. Poor posture invariably occurs with the head in a tilted forward position and the shoulders drooping for- ward in a rounded position. 

Loss of the natural curve of the cer- vical spine leads to incrementally increased stresses about the cervical spine. These stresses may lead to early wear, tear, degeneration, and possibly surgeries. 

People spend an average of two to four hours a day with their heads tilted over reading and texting on their smart phones and devices.

While it is nearly impossible to avoid the technologies that cause these issues, individuals should make an effort to look at their phones with a neutral spine and to avoid spending hours each day hunched over."

These neck positional changes are
NOT PERMANENT, they are OPTIONAL.  
​
You have a CHOICE (surgery or gentle very effective Posture Alignment Therapy).


Call us today to discuss your forward head position and neck pain.  We have helped many people change their posture including but not limited to head, neck, shoulder position.  
772-559-1532
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"Posture Problems" Go FAR Beyond Slouching

3/15/2016

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The husband harped on and on about his wife's bad posture.  She was a bit sick of it.  But she was more sick of the burning low leg pain and not being able to put weight on one leg for very long before feeling a grabbing stabbing pain in the hip going down the leg.  She limped into The Posture Clinic.

After two sessions, She said "I am not as bent over. My 'posture problem' is better but my sciatic still needs work."  

Wait, wait, wait.  WHOA. Wait just a second.  

This person referred to her slouching posture as her "posture problem."

She did not put her sciatica into the category of "posture problems."

Posture problems are not limited to the upper body or the spine or just rounded shoulders.  Not at all.  She was saying her posture problem was a slouching upper spine issue but the sciatica is not posture problem. 

SCIATICA IS A POSTURE PROBLEM  
There is no sciatic problem that is not a posture problem.  

When the skeleton is pulled out of position, anywhere in the body, the structure, joints, tendons, nerves LOOSE their freedom to move and function ......freely and completely!

Guess what?  Organs are affected too.  Slouch and you are compressing the 8 inch compartment the organs sit in.  You are also putting the sciatic nerve on a MAJOR stress and stretch.

Sciatica is caused by muscle imbalances that tug bones out of position so when you go to move the bones they now pinch nerves, rub cartilage tendons or jam a bone from partial or complete movement. This impacts other parts.  POSTURE IMBALANCES ANYWHERE IN THE BODY seriously compromise the healthy position and therefore function the skeleton is designed to maintain when stationary and when moving.

Stenosis is a posture problem
Spondylolisthesis, scoliosis are posture problems
Knee pain, ACL, MCL  tears, bone on bone are posture problems
Ankle pain, sprains, strains are posture problems
Foot pain, heel pain, bunions, plantar fasciitis, hammer toes, are posture problems
Hip pain, FAI, Labral tears, Degenerative Hip Dis-ease are posture problems
Shoulder, elbow, wrist, finger pain are posture problems
Back pain, neck pain, herniations, disc issues/bulging discs, stenosis, spondy scoliosis
The list could go on but you get the point.

Unless your joints/parts are smashed or broken the pain you have created is coming from dysfunctional muscles.  

IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO CHIRP "THE BODY IS CONNECTED" THEN .....the next thing that comes out of your mouth is,
​I have bad posture slouchy shoulders and spine but that's not related at all to the pain running down my leg.  

IT IS!!!!   IT IS 100%, 100 MILLION PERCENT RELATED
You don't really believe the body is connected if you have aches, pain, in various body parts and think of them and treat them in isolation to one another.  


Tom Myers, creator/author of Anatomy Trains, makes this point quite well HERE

​This lady understands now that this is a problem that is solvable but it will take some consistency on her part, doing her menu daily until her body learns the new functional movement patterns her hip, leg, upper back and shoulders etc are supposed to make, and the hips, shoulders, legs start doing movements on their own correctly.  

IT IS A WASTE TO THINK THE PROBLEM(S) WILL BE RESOLVED NOW OR SOON.

YOU HAVE TO WORK AT IT.  
​THE PROBLEM WILL BE RESOLVED WHEN YOU REPETITIVELY AND STRATEGICALLY TEACH IT OVER TIME TO BE FUNCTIONAL NOT DYSFUNCTIONAL.  

YOU ARE IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT. YOU CONTROL HOW MUCH BETTER YOU GET AND WHEN.  

STAY CLOSE TO YOUR THERAPIST

STAY IN THE PROCESS AND PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT IS CHANGING SPECIFICALLY AND SHARE THAT WITH YOUR THERAPIST

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Beware: Diagnosis does not equal Cause

3/15/2016

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You are so relieved.  You sigh a BIG sigh of relief.
"Thank God!!!  I know what I have."  
"I know what is wrong-I got a diagnosis."

You have pain, illness, or dysfunction.  After various interventions and attempts to rectify the problem, you got your label.  You and/or your doctor believe that EXPLAINS why you're sick or why your knee/ankle/shoulder/foot/hip/back hurts or why you always have a rash or why you're always hungry or not hungry or thirsty or dizzy or wobbly or have diarrhea!!!

Think again.  Getting diagnosed is ONLY meaningful if you can answer this question: What is the CAUSE of my problem.  

The CAUSE is NOT your DIAGNOSIS.  Arthritis, stenosis, herniations, eczema, Bell's Palsy, tinnitus, heck, diarrhea is not the CAUSE.  Whatever is CAUSING the arthritis, stenosis, herniations, eczema, diarrhea etc is the CAUSE.  Those labels are not the CAUSE. Those labels are symptoms. 

Symptoms are not The Cause

Having your medical or pain problem labeled with a word even a Latin word is not all that useful.    

So you stop there.  You stop right there, satisfied that what you have is that Latin thing, that label, that medical term that you might Google.  

You might say, "now wait a minute, a diagnosis is VERY critical to the treatment."  Not entirely because many times once the diagnosis is decided upon the next step is to open the Merck Manual and choose a drug.

My opinion is....this procedure of being given a medical term, even a Latin term or diagnosis only, could in time potentially be very instrumental in KILLING you!!!!

Yes, true, you could get hit by a bus.  

You could also die a slow horrible death because YOU didn't take responsibility and use common sense to buck the current system EVEN a LITTLE bit.  

ASK WHY you have (fill in the blank with the diagnosis label) and DON'T GIVE IN UNTIL YOU GET THE FULL and COMPLETE ANSWER.


Ask the Doctor: WHY?

What is THE CAUSE of my Latin word for disease or "itis" on the end of a word or bone rubbing cartilage away or scoliosis or plantar fasciitis, or the torn tendon or continuously herniating disc or my continuously horribly painful or disturbing ....... ANYTHING!!!

If the answer you get is "idiopathic" meaning "we don't know" then you are dealing with a doctor who is too lazy to figure it out.  If the answer you get is "old age" again laziness......RUN, or get the heck out of there.

The Body Does NOTHING without GOOD REASON.  

Better start asking and finding out WHY.  What is the reason this problem developed.  If your doctor says that's a disease called XYZ -there is no cure but you can take these pharmaceutical drugs or get surgery. Perhaps ask, will the drugs reverse this condition and heal the CAUSE?  If it's non-curable then what is the point of the drugs.  Drugs force artificial chemical changes upon your cells, symptoms may disappear temporarily and drugs will cause side effects and may require dose increases over time and may over time cause the problem to worsen.  


DRUGS are Never a Cure

Yes the Drug Companies have brainwashed most people who watch tv or read magazines and even doctors.  

Drug companies are interested in ONE thing only:
Finding customers NOT cures.
 

Instead of Run for a Cure, how about Run for the CAUSE.

Finding the CAUSE would bankrupt most drug companies, doctors, hospitals and cancer centers.  The American Cancer Association, Breast Cancer Foundations, etc. are not finding the cause, they are finding ways to make the pharmaceutical companies profitable for a long time.  

Click HERE for more info about Cancer.  And HERE to watch June tell how her BREAST CANCER was diet related and how IMPROVING HER DIET GOT RID OF HER BREAST CANCER.

Back to Musculoskeletal problems, If you have pain and the doctor says it's arthritis and prescribes a drug, that drug is going to forcefully decrease inflammation so that you don't feel the pain of arthritis.  Don't be fooled, this has not CURED a thing.  It has masked the pain.  Nothing is cured, it's just temporarily reduced inflammation.  You have just kicked the can down the road, the problem that is what caused the pain is still there and getting worse with every step you take. Plus the drugs are having detrimental effects on organ systems.

You have Choices

If you are open to common sense approaches that surpass conventional thinking, you can find the cause and many times solve the problem.  You have to be determined to save your life or your loved ones.  You also have to be ready, willing and able to work OUTSIDE the Western Medical model AND also not be so naive to think Alternative Medicine operates better. (They too can be just as lazy and not worried about the Cause.)

You must be ready to dig down and dig in and BE OPEN and not assume just because a doctor has a degree (even a degree from a famous school or hospital) that they want to find the cause and aren't threatened by looking at the body and problems differently.  

Once the cause(s) is found, the next step is to find a treatment that corrects the underlying problem(s).  The treatment should be non-invasive (non-surgical, non-pharmaceutical) safe, easily recognizable by the body as "close to home" 
The treatment may require money (not insurance reimbursement), a lot of patience and commitment to stay the course until the body can make the necessary changes to overcome the cause and be able to heal the problem.  This is real healing not putting a band-aid on the problem by cutting out the problem or masking it with drugs.  

YOU ARE NOT BROKEN.  Your body is doing something and wants you to pay attention and get it help to correct it.  Your job is to find smart people who understand the real CAUSES of muscle/joint pain and dysfunction or whatever illness you have and to find the solution.  

YOU OWN AND DRIVE AN AMAZING MIRACULOUS MACHINE CALLED THE HUMAN BODY.  

It has unparalleled capacity to heal but it needs YOU to be smart and not turn responsibility over to someone motivated to keep the money coming in by ILLNESS versus doing whatever it takes to find the path to your HEALTH, REAL HEALTH.  

​NOT FAKE HEALTH or the ILLUSION OF HEALTH in pill form in a bottle.


​You have a CHOICE, you can choose whether you want to kick the can down the road or stop the Merry Go Round now.  

Call us for an insightful consultation.  772-559-1532
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You Haven't "Tried Everything"

1/7/2016

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You still have pain.  You are no better.  You are tired of it and decide it must be old age or genetics or the cards you've been dealt. You say, there is no use, you are destined to have pain forever.  You have done it all and tried it all.  

Not so fast.  Not all therapies are created equal and it is very obvious you have not yet heard of or worked with a therapist certified by Egoscue University offering a very effective Posture Alignment Therapy.  

      -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2016: THE YEAR YOU FINALLY "TRY EVERYTHING"
by Tim George, Owner, San Diego South Egoscue Clinic
 
If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times. In fact, it's uttered on a daily basis in our clinics. We hear it from the most desperate of clients. The ones who have checked the numerous boxes on their list of things tried:
-Ice
-Heat
-Bracing
-Rest
-Therapy
-Surgery

In a nutshell, we hear from our client: "I've tried everything."

If I can be honest with you for a second, no...you haven't. You haven't tried everything. Don't get me wrong, you have tried a LOT of things, but you haven't tried it all. You've done multiple therapy modalities. Some of you have had multiple surgeries. You've bought multiple high-end chairs. You purchased a standing desk. You've cut out various forms of exercise believed to be causing your pain.

Yet, you haven't tried something as "simple" as returning the body back to its original design.

You see, pain is a signal. And signals are meant to be interpreted. For example, if you have pain in your knee, it's the body's way of alerting you that you're off, out of balance, not moving as you're intended to move. More often than not, the hip sitting directly above that painful knee is where the cause of the knee pain is originating from. In short, your body has lost its design, and it's telling you as much. What's amazing is that your body is still keeping you vertical, moving around, allowing you to get in and out of a chair, etc. Instead of thinking your body is broken, you should actually be applauding your body. We should be celebrating that it's still getting you from Point A to Point B, albeit a bit more painful than it once was. Instead, we jump to a "10" on the freak-out scale.

In reality, your body is simply compensating, adapting to its environment, surroundings, and various hobbies that you enjoy. That's the cool thing about the body. However, when you target the symptoms, you ignore the genesis of the issue. Your body has moved away from its design blueprint, one that all of us-male and female alike-share. Return your body back to proper alignment, and you'll eliminate your pain for good. It's simple, but it takes work. You have to remember that you didn't get into your position overnight, and you won't get out of your position overnight.

I get excited when I talk to new clients about Egoscue, to paint a picture for them that involves them actually living life again. Yes, that can be you. You can get your life back. You're designed to run, jump, climb, and crawl, and to do those things pain free. The fact that you're reading this and even thinking about going to an Egoscue clinic tells me that you haven't tried everything. 

Make 2016 the year you give Egoscue a try. I guarantee it'll be worth it.

Call today to set up a consultation so we can show you your misalignments. A lot of therapists, instructors, even doctors think they are posture experts but no one knows posture better than therapists certified by the Egoscue University.  No one.  Clients constantly exclaim, "my doctor/physical therapist never noticed that problem!"  Come on in and we'll show you what we mean.  772-559-1532
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iHunch, Text Neck, iPosture

1/6/2016

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​Interesting article in the NYTimes entitled Your iPhone is Ruining your Posture and Your Mood.

It makes some good points about how posture affects mood.  And makes just a few great points about how cell phones cause us to hunch or stick our heads forward or just get in contorted poor positions.  

Amy Cuddy author of the piece and professor at Harvard Business School ends with: 
"...... we rely on our mobile devices far too much to give them up, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Fortunately, there are ways to fight the iHunch.
Keep your head up and shoulders back when looking at your phone, even if that means holding it at eye level. You can also try stretching and massaging the two muscle groups that are involved in the iHunch — those between the shoulder blades and the ones along the sides of the neck. This helps reduce scarring and restores elasticity."

In our blog article, Exercise, Posture Myths, thinking you can make your body stand up straight or can make your rounded shoulders unround or make your forward head actually come back over your spine is a colossal waste of time and energy.  

​Myth #1: Thinking about your posture is enough. 
Truth: Postural alignment is unconscious and based on our muscle memory. Thinking about your posture is not enough to correct your imbalances and even if you could, what happens to your posture when you get distracted?

Everyone thinks they are posture experts these days including Business School Profs.  It is great to see the important subject of posture in the media.  However, thinking your way to correct posture, telling yourself even reminding yourself with your Apple Watch or cell phone alarm to "stand up straight" "keep your head up" will result in more of the same posture.  

Muscles have memory.  Keep on habitually positioning your head, spine, pelvis, legs etc in the same position over and over, you are training your muscles to hold your bones that way.  No one else is responsible but you.  

Luckily the human body is a brilliant piece of adaptable genius in motion.  Muscles can move bones out of their ideal and healthy position and they can be trained to move bones BACK into their correct position strategically with the right methodology with Posture Alignment Therapy by an Egoscue University certified therapist.  

This type of retraining can not happen with gym machines, classes, in a Physical Therapy clinic and certainly not with surgery and DEFINITELY not with stretching, massaging and telling yourself to  "keep your head up."  

A forward head position and rounded shoulders are the byproduct of poor spinal positions, kyphotic upper back, flat lower bock, lost spinal curves to name a few.  Since the spine sits on top of the pelvic bowl, if the pelvis is tilted backward then all the efforts in the world to keep your head up will produce no change in head position, at all.  

Posture Alignment Therapy is highly effective and will get the body back into correct position.  

Call us 772-559-1532 today for a consultation and to discuss your pain and posture, because the positions you have gotten your body in is what is causing the pain. 

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Shoulder, Spine, Head Position: If it's not right, you got no game.

12/31/2015

1 Comment

 
If I had a nickel for every time I helped a client discover the primary cause of foot or knee or hip pain is upstream, I'd have a LOT of nickels.  Rounded shoulders, rounded spine, forward head will negatively impact healthy joint movement and function making them ripe for injury and degradation and plain old pain.  Yes and those problems will definitely affect any of the other joints as far away as the feet and ankles. It's not "woo woo" stuff, it's physics and biomechanics and it's true.   

Jaws drop open when clients correct the position of the shoulder, upper back and head and their hip or knee or foot pain and dysfunctional movement patterns disappear.  Whether you are a serious runner, athlete or housewife, ankles, feet, knees, hips, pelvis, spine can't function properly with rounded shoulders, rounded upper back and forward head.  

​This article is Dynamite.  Even if you aren't a runner the concept applies to any runner or non-runner.  Thanks Matt.
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Exercise, Posture Myths

12/30/2015

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TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING
by Matt Whitehead Egoscue University certified Postural Alignment Specialist (PAS) and Advanced Exercise Therapist (AET) and owner of Oregon Exercise Therapy.
Posture, alignment, and functional movement is talked about everywhere and by everyone nowadays, which is a really good thing, but there are some problems that are arising from posture's popularity. Just about every personal trainer, physical therapist, chiropractor, online health blogger, and gym rat calls themselves a posture alignment expert and is writing articles, posting youtube videos, publishing books, and going on TV shows talking about what good posture is and how to achieve it. Again, this is wonderful that posture is being talked about so much and everyone now thinks about posture as being important, but not all the information being handed out is helpful or correct, and not all the information is consistent. This creates issues for the consumers of this information. I am going to discuss the major myths about postural alignment, explain where "experts" have it wrong, and help you the consumer know how to tell whether advice is good or bad. 

​Myth #1: Thinking about your posture is enough. 
Truth: Postural alignment is unconscious and based on our muscle memory. Thinking about your posture is not enough to correct your imbalances and even if you could, what happens to your posture when you get distracted?

Myth #2: This is the way I was born; It's just the way I am.
Truth: Postural alignment is not genetic. As much as you'd like to blame your parents for your bowed legs, pronated feet, rounded upper back, or forward head, that argument just doesn't carry any weight. Your postural alignment is a reflection of how you've moved throughout your life, not your DNA.
​
Myth #3: Good posture means a flat stomach. 
Truth: Good posture means a relaxed stomach. Tightening or pulling in your abdominal muscles causes many problems including increased risk of low back injury, interference with hip and pelvic movements, compromised breathing, increased neck, shoulder, and upper back tension, and deceased mood. 

Joseph Pilates at age 57 and 82. Notice his flat, tight stomach and contracted quads, along with very internally rotated arms and externally rotated legs. Not a good example of balanced posture!
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Myth #4: All you need to do to improve your posture is strengthen your core. 
Truth: Strengthening your core will strengthen or "lock in" your current postural alignment - which is probably not very good. Most people with poor posture and who are looking at core strengthening as a way to improve their posture have some kyphosis and shoulder rounding along with a hip disparity, and strengthening their core will only cause these imbalances to get worse. Core strengthening is best left for after you have good postural alignment, not before. This principle is easily remembered by the phrase: straighten before you strengthen. ​

The man on the left has a strong core and the woman on the right is pulling her stomach in. They both have terrible posture.
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Myth #5: Everyone has a different natural posture.
Truth: Yes, almost everyone you look at around you probably looks much different posturally from each other, but that does not mean their posture is designed to be different. We all share the same bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, and nerves and they are designed to align themselves in the same way. The differences you see in people's postures are environmental (how they use their bodies) not genetic. ​

Human design posture. All humans share the same design and postural alignment. 
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Myth #6: If something is "bad" the opposite must be "good". 
Truth: Research and many experts have been talking about the dangers of valgus knees and medially rotated femurs and how that increases the chance of an ACL Tear. Many of these experts then reason that if valgus and medial rotation is bad, varus and external rotation must be good. In philosophy 101 we learned this is a false dilemma...apparently many posture experts skipped philosophy class! Knees that are vertically aligned with the ankles and hips and that point straight ahead are natural and function best and any misalignment can and will cause inefficiency in movement, tissue damage, and pain eventually. ​
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​The above image on left (labeled NO in red) shows the knee collapsing valgus which most people agree is not good, but the image on the right (labeled YES in green) shows the knee varus to the ankle which also can lead to injury.  (Varus and Valgus, both knee positions are dangerous!)
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Just because this valgus knee position when squatting is "bad"...

...that doesn't mean a varus knee position when squatting is "good"! Both knee positions create uneven and undo stress on the body. (Note: this is not a picture of "neutral knees" as much as Kelly Starrett wants it to be)
The above two pictures are of Kelly Starrett, a well known physical therapist from the Cross-Fit world, from his book "Becoming a Supple Leopard". While he has many good ideas and is certainly strong, he believes in most of these posture myths and his posture demonstrates he hasn't quite figured it all out. ​

Myth #7: Good posture means tucking your chin and lengthening your neck.
Truth: People who say this are trying to correct forward head posture and they believe tucking the chin is the way to do that since it does often move the head back. The problem is they are treating the symptom and not the cause. Forward head posture is often caused by some combination of these imbalances: thoracic kyphosis; rounded shoulders; anterior pelvic tilt; posterior pelvic tilt; swayback; flat lumbar spine; lumbar lordosis; and knee hyperextension. Tucking your chin might look better at first glance but without correcting the underlying posture imbalances you've made very little impact on your overall health. Lengthening your neck can decrease the lordosis in the cervical spine too much and put the discs of the neck under increased stress and strain, cause excessive muscle tension, and even restrict your airway (breathing).
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"Good posture" recommended by CHOC Children's and UC Irvine School of Medicine. This shows many of the myths and misconceptions of what good posture is and how it should be achieved. This image shows myth 7, 8, 9, and 10!

Myth #8: To align your pelvis, pull your stomach in and tuck your butt under. 
Truth: If your pelvis is tilted forward into an anterior tilt, then yes this idea might make sense, but as talked about in myth #1 and #3 postural alignment should come naturally and your stomach should be relaxed. What happens if you give this advice to someone whose pelvis is already tilted backwards into a posterior tilt? You make their posture even worse and greatly increase the chance of low back injury among other things. Not good. 

While correcting anterior pelvic tilt is a good idea, going about it by sucking and tucking is a bad idea. 
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Myth #9: Good posture means pulling your shoulders back.
Truth: Good posture means your shoulders are back without you thinking about it. If you are consciously pulling your shoulders back (remember myth #1) you'll create excessive fatigue in your upper back muscles which can cause more pain. Your shoulders should be completely relaxed when standing or sitting and naturally fall into place. If you have to pull your shoulders back to get them aligned with your hips, you need to address the postural imbalances you have throughout the rest of your body, and then your shoulders will fall into place naturally without effort. Any tightening of muscles will lead to poor movement patters and can lead to pain and injury.

Obviously this is exaggerated, but pulling your shoulders back is not a good idea. Rather go after the underlying cause of your shoulder position and let your shoulders relax into good postural alignment.
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Myth #10: When standing your knees should be slightly bent. 
​Truth: Your knees should be straight when standing relaxed, not bent. Keeping your knees bent while standing increases the pressure on meniscus of the knees and patellar tendon and can cause pain. Hyperextending your knees (locking your knees) by tightening your quads is also stressful to your knees and can create damage to the underside of your patella (kneecap). ​​​

When you, the healthcare consumer, is reading about posture advice, remember these 10 Posture Myths. If the advice falls under any of these posture myths, think twice before following the advice. Your posture and body will thank you!
2 Comments

Let's Not Blame One Event

12/9/2015

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Many clients start out believing that all their pain or injury is caused by one singular event: the memorable blasting tennis serve or the innocent twist to open the window, or reaching plus twisting to pick up the dog's leash on the floor.  

We need to get away from that "One Event" idea.  The client's body was already breaking down.  It was injured because of uneven muscle tension and misaligned bones and joints.  It is this imbalance which forces the body to compensate. Its just a matter of time before compensations turn into dysfunction and imbalance.  

Bottom line, barring any direct blow and breakage, the muscle imbalance and resulting muscle/joint dysfunction that we create are to blame.  It's useless and a waste of precious time to blame tennis, the dog, window or our shoes.  

Fix the underlying imbalance and dysfunction and stop blaming the singular thing or event.   Call us so we can help evaluate your muscle and joint imbalance and pain.  772-559-1532
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    Catee Ingwersen is an Egoscue certified Posture Alignment Specialist and Licensed Massage Therapist.  
    She empowers people every day to overcome pain and physical limitations unlike any other healing or medical intervention.  
    ​Call 772-559-1532 to discuss this common sense approach and your individual needs.
     

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