Blog#72:
Strong Posture Can Improve Your Life
Strong posture involves standing, sitting and doing
other activities with as much stability, comfort, symmetry, and vitality as
possible for each individual. Every one
who can stand up is balanced; otherwise they would fall down. But they might not be balanced in a strong,
stable way. According to Dr. Steven
Weiniger, founder of the Strong Posture program, “strong posture” requires
three elements: optimal balance, alignment, and movement, (BAM).
In today’s world, fewer and fewer people have optimal
posture. People bend over, texting on smart
phones, sit at desks working on computers, and slouch while standing in lines
for the bus the bank, appointments, and more.
Increasing numbers of people have forward head posture, which is just
what it sounds like. When the head is
forward, the body is not well aligned.
As a result, the center of gravity is compromised and balance is not as
stable as it could be.
Also, in today’s stressed, rushed world, less and less
people breathe abdominally. Instead,
they engage in more shallow chest breathing.
When core muscles are engaged in deep abdominal breathing, the body is
more balanced and stable than it would be with chest breathing. Motion is also important, since this is how bones
are strengthened and muscles are toned, blood and lymph are circulated, the
nervous system is best balanced and utilized, and internal organs are
efficiently massaged, detoxified and replenished.
Increasingly, it is being said that sitting is the new
smoking. There is a significant amount
of truth to this. If the body is folded
for many hours each day, the fold becomes increasingly indelible. The heart is
not exercised as much as it needs to be.
The intestines and other internal organs are not massaged as often as
they need to be to stay healthy. The
spine is impacted due to lack of blood circulation and insufficient muscle tone
and stability. Vertebrae become inflamed,
less dense, and more poorly aligned.
With toned muscles, optimal alignment and good
balance, the elderly are less likely to suffer spinal compression fractures or
falls. They are also less likely to
loose inches in height. As a result,
they will tend to enjoy longer and better quality lives than those who do not
have good balance, alignment and motion.
Strong posture training involves daily exercises
lasting about 20 minutes total. Over
time, these exercises will help improve the body’s stability and also improve resilience
and coordination in those who choose to engage in other types of more
challenging exercise, such as playing in sports or daily yoga practice. The “strong posture” program also involves
taking photos every month or several months against a grid. This will track changes in posture as a
person becomes stronger, more stable, and more aligned.
One rather simple exercise that I can share in this
blog is the stork: the person stands on
one leg with the other leg flexed at both hip and knee. The thigh of the raised leg is parallel with
the floor. If the person needs to wave
their arms or leans from side to side to keep from falling, then a “peel-back”
is taught first. The stork is done three times a day, for an equal amount of
time on each leg, and for increasingly long time intervals. As the person becomes more proficient, many
variations are introduced to keep the exercise challenging. It is important that posture should be good
when doing any of these exercises. The
head should not be held forward, the shoulders should be level, and so on.
This blog’s offer:
contact me with any questions about this exercise or about the Strong
Posture program. I teach the series of
exercises and also use a grid to help measure and evaluate progress.