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Recently, I’ve become very conscious of the fact that I need to address the issue of my personal health and wellbeing (Read: “I really have to shed some kilo’s because I feel like an inert morsel, experiencing unexplained discomfort at times” ). Tired of uncomfortable, boring and outdated workout routines and aiming to get new information in order to enjoy working out again, I came across a thought provoking article online…”

Correcting Posture: Myth or Reality? by Anoop Balachandran (originally published at MindandMuscle.net ). Also see: http://www.exercisebiology.com.

Physiotherapists perform a postural assessment as part of their initial assessments. Deviations from an ideal posture, such as an exaggerated anterior pelvic tilt – will definitely lead to low back pain. A forward head or grossly rounded upper back posture will end in shoulder, neck, and upper arm pain. We have all heard of examples where posture is definitely linked to pain.

The belief of posture related pain conditions is quite widespread. Surprisingly though, there is little scientific evidence to show that ‘bad’ posture will cause pain. We see people with ‘bad’ postures with no pain, and many more with ideal posture in a lot of pain, this shows that there is much more to pain than just posture.

Classifying postures and making people believe that certain postures and movements are bad and dangerous, instills fear of these postures, and enhances pain by fear-avoidance patterns. In short, casual conclusions about pain and posture could be doing more harm than good.

As Physiotherapists we are trained to look for common postural problems and then correct these where necessary. We are also focused on attempting to show a person struggling with pain that they are not doomed to a painful future because of their less than ideal posture but rather an aversion to mobility and normal function. So, the key to long-term alleviation of related pain is management by ‘physical therapy’ not just a passive reception of treatment.

In essence we must note that…

– There is no ‘perfect’ posture.

– Pain isn’t always caused by muscle imbalances (tightness or weakness).

– Pain is much more complicated than just stretching and strengthening the right muscles.

– The body doesn’t do well with prolonged periods of immobility.

– To break the immobility-pain cycle – we encourage movement and never restrain it.

– Corrective postural therapy (such as the various physiotherapy pain – relief modalities and ergonomics) can be effective but must always include movement and functional activities (commonly referred to as exercises).

Yours in Health

Mitesh