How you move and hold yourself is a habitual neurological pattern expressed both outwardly through posture and inwardly in the memory of cells and tissues that make up the organs. Without even being aware of it, your posture deeply affects the health and well-being of your “mind-body complex.”
It is TOTALLY WITHIN YOUR POWER to change the resting tone in the soft tissue but here is the catch. You must become MINDFUL of your movements because how you move and hold yourself is automatic, and dominant memory patterns are easier to do than new movement patterns.
Our work together will enable you to leave a constant state of stress behind and pop out of a Fight/Flight/Freeze mode of operating as you empower yourself to be in the direction of health and well-being. It’s truly ONE MINDFUL STEP AT A TIME.
Did you ever think you were sitting upright when you were slumped? Or maybe you were bent backwards in standing when you thought you were upright! It is normal to feel shocked when you realize your lack of awareness for position sense (Kinesthetic Awareness). This kind of experience is common for clients that come for treatment at Hart Physical Therapy.
Here are some before and after pictures of two individuals who thought they were sitting or standing erect with a good posture. However, after seeing a picture that showed them otherwise, they realized that their position sense was way off or “out of kilter.”
How you move and hold or position yourself when sitting, standing, or even lying down has a significant impact on your health. Repetitive movements in and out of bed and sit to stand or stand to sit can act as micro trauma and over the years cause deformation to tissues and structures that leave one’s neuro, muscular, skeletal, and connective tissue health in the direction of degeneration. The brain develops a memory or negative attachment to this stressful way of moving even though it causes deformation to structures including the nervous system. The nervous system is unaware and powerless to correct the inaccurate dominant memory. Consequently, the nervous system adapts down to the dysfunctional patterns of movement even though they are harmful because they are ingrained, familiar, and associated with “feeling comfortable” being they have become the dominant memory or pattern for that position or movement. This is the meaning of a habit and why it takes kinesthetic awareness, position sense, or a healthy body/mind connection, to change a habit.
Poor posture and mechanically stressful movement are habitual and damaging to your neuro, muscular, skeletal, and connective tissue health. Unfortunately, if you do not give yourself the opportunity to realize and experience the difference, you will continue with your old, familiar, comfortable habit that you think is normal and healthy, and stay in the direction of degeneration. This is how many people age and it is not a part of the normal aging process. It is a sign of poor neuro, muscular, skeletal, and connective tissue health.
Tips for Success: This simple kinesthetic exercise can be done throughout the day to increase your postural awareness. Check to feel if your body has a sense of your bottom or butt being out back vs tucked under. This “butt out back” position tugs on the connective tissue throughout your core giving your chest a feeling of being up rather than depressed or slumped. Without forcing this “butt out back” position, enjoy the feeling of a more balanced upright posture.
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