Use your brain to improve posture
Let’s try an experiment.
Close your eyes and try to touch the tips of your index fingers above your head. How did you go? Did fingertip touch fingertip or did you miss?
This is proprioception in a nutshell: your body knowing where it is in space. When you move, sensory nerves tell your brain what is moving and where it’s moving. While this is happening, motor nerves are creating the movement and adjusting depending on where you are with your movement. This is happening all the time, constantly.
Many years ago, I was told that I had an anterior tilt in my pelvis, which basically means the front of my pelvis is lower than the back, which can also cause more curvature in the lower back. The typical remedy for this is stretching and strengthening certain muscles and muscle groups. While this will definitely help, it also behooves us to engage our brains on purpose and think about how we are moving.
In my case, I constantly thought about my posture, specifically my pelvis, and was always focusing on staying neutral when standing, walking or performing other tasks. And now it’s neutral and I have better awareness of my body.
Mine is not a unique situation. There are many postural maladies that can be significantly impacted with a greater conscious awareness.
For example:
❚ Pelvic tilt. I mentioned anterior tilt above, but you can also have posterior or lateral tilt (left higher than right for example). Anterior is usually more common though. The solution – in addition to possible corrective exercises, maintain a neutral pelvis as often as you can.
❚ Rounded/forward shoulders. Stop where you are right now and look around. If there are other people nearby, see if anyone is sitting or standing with their shoulders dropped and rounded forward. This is another common condition where we fall into a bad posture, and a lot of people just can’t sense (proprioception) that they are in a bad position. The solution – in addition to possible corrective exercises, be cognitively aware of keeping your shoulders back and down.
❚ Rotated feet. Go for a walk and look at your feet. Where do your toes point? Forward? Or do they point out or in? A lot of people walk like a duck and, in some cases, like a pigeon. Good news – it’s easy to fix unless you have an injury or are genetically predisposed. The solution – in addition to possible corrective exercises (primarily stretching), point your toes forward when you walk.
A lot of people underestimate the power of the mind and what it can do. Some simple steps to take control include the following:
1. Know what the problem is (see a physio, osteo, chiro or GP for a proper assessment).
2. Learn and FEEL what is correct and neutral. 3. Use your brain to constantly stay in that correct position.