Posture; we all know its important. We also know we could probably do better. This is my job, and I am no exception! What we miss so often in our day is that working on, maintaining and promoting good posture is actually very simple, we just need to pay it mind and create systems that help us straighten up.
If you’re like me, time in a chair or desk or car seat is an unavoidable piece of life. Its something we have to do! Unless you are able to upgrade your workstation to a standing station, life on our behind is part of the story. This takes our spine and stresses it in ways it is not designed to withstand for long periods! We lose our sagittal curves, place excess stress on the discs between the vertebrae and crane our neck into awkward angles to see what we need to see. All in all, a losing situation for not only the structure of our spine (think treads on a tire being worn out unequally) but on our nervous system too (think dimmer switch on a light bulb)! This results in excess wear and tear on the spine and reduced function and adaptability for our entire body!
Wait, did you just say entire body? Yup, I did. You see, our spine has a much more important function than just holding our head on our shoulders; it protects our central nervous system, the master control system in the body. When the spine is stressed (thanks to bad posture, injury or misalignment) it interferes with our nervous system’s ability to communicate with the body (like static on a phone line or a dimmer switch on a light bulb). This plays havoc with the body’s natural ability to run and heal itself, and over time can result in aches, pains, decreased immunity and many more symptoms of a dysfunctional body.
Lucky for you and me, restoring balance and function is actually very simple. Being aware of our posture (especially while sitting or carrying any weight) is a great starting point and taking steps to strengthen it only help. In the gym work on rhomboids, core stability and generally any movement that brings you into a standing straight up position. At home and work make sure your desk is optimized for ergonomics; a quick google search will show you plenty of images showing a great setup. All of these help to take the stress off our spine, but what of our nervous system?
Thankfully there is hope for your master control system too! To turn the power back up to 100% all we need are chiropractic adjustments to restore alignment and improve brain-body communication; whether you feel it or not getting your spine checked may be the missing link in restoring health to your body and increasing your performance in life beyond what you imagined possible (it’s no coincidence that every major athlete has a chiropractor on his team)! Imagine the possibilities if you had a stronger immune system, quicker reaction time or faster recovery time after workouts; whatever your fitness and health goals in 2014, chiropractic can help you achieve and even surpass them!
William Booker
River Of Life Chiropractic
www.riveroflifechiro.com
