...floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee

Have you just been on the edge of your seat, in an almost-wet-your-pants kind of excitement to learn how to assess your posture? How about too-ecstatic-to-leave-the- computer in case you miss the tips on how to transform your fitness regime into a total body balancing act? Well the wait is over (…mom).

READY…SET...POSTURE!

Fine, maybe you’re not as crazy thrilled as I am, but here are reasons for why you should be:

Poor posture:

- is often times the culprit of back pain

- can lead to inhibition (turning off) of key muscles during functional tasks and while working out

- Inhibition leads to some muscles working in place of others (substitution) which causes repetitive stress and ultimately leads to injury

- causes back pain, shoulder pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome, hip pain, knee pain, ankle pain, plantar fasciitis…need I go on?

Ideal Posture:

- promotes proper muscle recruitment

- improves spinal stability

- lends to increase power through the arms and legs

- can help improve sports related skills

- improves breathing dynamics

- reduces compression on the joints in the spine, shoulders and hips

- protects against injury

- improves your balance and stability

- can make you all Muhammad Ali-esque, you know “…floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee”…and all that good stuff.

Equilibrium in an upright posture occurs when a joint is equally balanced by muscular forces or gravity; meaning that your muscles are active to counterbalance the effect of gravity on your body to keep you upright.

Ideally, we would use a plumb-bob (ha, say that with a straight face) as a vertical reference point, but since I can assume that most of you are not running around with one of those in your pocket…and if you are please keep it a secret… here is an alternative:

If your gym has those long floor-to-ceiling mirrors, there is usually a point where one ends and another begins…i.e. the place that you inevitably end up standing in a yoga class if you are running late and you wiggle about all hour to see if your arms and legs are in line while the instructor gives you the, “What the crazy is that?” look.

Stand with your side facing the dividing line (or just stand sideways in a mirror), allow the line to transect your ear and answer the following questions: (tip: this works best with a gym buddy to help)

1. Where are your shoulders located in relation to your head?

a. My shoulders and head are pretty much in alignment, I have a nice soft curve in my neck.

b. Whoa! My head is way in front of my shoulders! My neck curve is exaggerated!

c. My shoulders are slightly rounded; the curve in my neck seems a little flat.

d. My shoulders are back and erect, my ribs jut outwards.

2. What does your mid back look like?

a. Well it curves forward a little, doesn’t look that bad..

b. Dude, my mid back curves forward a lot! I kind of look like that hunchback guy!

c. Mid-back? It’s supposed to curve? Ya, there’s no curve there at all.

d. Can’t really see it, my big wo/manly shoulders are in the way.

3. Where are your butt-ocks and belly situated?

a. Belly sticks out a little, I just thought that was from the icing I eat off those cupcakes, but my booty, well that’s just waving to the world, it’s because of the huge curve in my low back.

b. Oh belly, ya I got one of those, but rear end is concave city.

c. Rear is flat as a board; belly is under control because I keep it under lock and key, not much of a curve in my low back!

d. Well, in order to keep my shoulders back & ribs forward, I have to stick my booty out and keep the tummy tight!

Were your answers mostly A? Do your curves correspond to bloke A pictured above?

Like Homer here, it is likely that your pelvis is tilted forward, forcing you into a slight bend at the hips and an exaggerated low back curve.

Culprit: long lasting faulty posture, pregnancy, obesity and weak abs.

Balance it out:

- stretch hip flexors

- stretch lumbar extensors

- Strengthen abdominals

B people?

Turns out, your posture most assimilates that of Charles Montgomery Burns. But fear not because aside from suffering from a forward head, a swayback and a generally slouched posture, his redeeming qualities include giving away free beer!...well, in place of employee dental plans, but free beer none-the-less!

Culprit: You guys really enjoy hanging on your ligaments instead of utilizing the muscles God gave you. The tendency in this posture is to ‘lock out’ on the joints, have an asymmetrical stance where you bear your weight through one leg or the other and often slouch for long periods of time.

Balance it out:

- Stretch your upper abdominals

- strengthen your lower abdominals

- Strengthen your hip flexors

- Strengthen your back extensors

C all the way?

Wiley Coyote says it all. His pelvis tends to tilt backwards a little, flattening out his low and mid back, making his bottom intersect right into his legs and back with little to no definition.

Culprit: Slouching while sitting or standing, sacral sitting which means you curl your bum in to sit on your sacrum rather than your ‘sits bones’; also caused by overworking the abdominals.

Balance it out:

- Stretch abdominals

- stretch hip extensors

- strengthen back extensors

- strengthen hip flexors

Are you a D?

Yosemite Sam can vouch that an upright military posture can be as detrimental to your joints as any of the above postures for the following reasons: it forces you to flatten out your neck and mid back, and you end up compensating for the lack of movement by jutting out the ribs. The shoulder dynamics here become faulty due to the forced depression of the collar bone and shoulder blades; what’s more, you end up tilting your pelvis forward and causing pressure and compression on your intervertebral discs.

Culprit: exaggeration of upright posture

Balance it out:

- Increase mobility of mid back

- strengthen shoulder girdle (specifically Scapular Retractors)

- Increase mobility of shoulder blades

- Learn to disassociate arm movement from trunk (i.e. move the arms while keeping the trunk quiet)

- stretch neck muscles

While this post has gone longer than anticipated, I hope you hung in there and learned something new, because having another tool under your belt only gives you added fighting power, Go-Go-Gadget Posture!

Each posture will be broken down with correction exercises in future posts so be prepared to be new, improved, and armed with a new fitness identity!

Source

Kisner Carolyn. Colby Lynn Allen. Therapeutic Exercise: Foundations and Techniques 4^th Edition. F. A. Davis Company. Pp. 595-603.