Poor Posture

Good posture is essential for maintaining a healthy mind and body. Our posture is all about gravity and weight distribution. Gravity wants to pull our joints, ligaments and muscles down, and how we distribute the weight of gravity throughout our bodies is what we call posture. Good posture arises when we evenly distribute the weight. Good posture is efficient posture. It means that you support your body with minimum effort, balanced from front to back and from side to side. Sitting and standing with good postural alignment reduces fatigue and strain on joints, ligaments and muscles. It is almost impossible to maintain perfect balance at all times, however, striving to stay well balanced most of the time will save one from aches, pains and prevent structural ailments.

Poor posture is the result of uneven weight distribution. Poor posture contributes to unnecessary strain and throws off our entire body mechanics. Over long periods of time, poor posture can produce structural anatomical changes that cause stress and strain on one’s spine and other joints. Slumping in chairs, standing with weight shifted to one hip, even our sleep positions can wreak havoc on our frame and joints.

Acupuncture treatments cannot give you good posture, however, acupuncture can alleviate the pain that results from bad posture. Acupuncture balances the meridians (which can be interpreted as muscle chains). If an imbalance is relatively recent, then a few treatments can be enough to re-educate the body. If poor posture habits are developed over the years, creating new, good posture habits will take longer and will likely need the help of other healthcare practitioners such as (chiropractor, personal trainer/Pilates professional, physical therapist, massage practitioner …).

As always, the main player in health maintenance is you. I am here to help.