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Why Posture is Important |
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A brief insight as to why posture is such an important, yet under-appreciated aspect of health and fitness. |
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| Author: Mark Broadbent |
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Our structure is designed in a way that, when optimal, will make movements easy, with no joint or muscular pain, and no restrictions to this movement.
Bad posture however is a habit that, nowadays, most people get into. With modern day life calling for far less movement than has always been required in nature, and much of the movement that is carried out being highly specialized or repetitive (such as at work, particularly in an office environment).
This high degree of repetitive movement gets our bodies “set” into the same movement patterns, working only the muscles required for that movement, and allowing the other muscles to go unused.
Eventually, over a period of time, these unused muscles get weak and lazy; and the over-used muscles become tight and (relatively) too strong.
These imbalances between the muscles cause added stress around the joints, with tight/facilitated muscles pulling the joint out of alignment, and the weak muscles allowing this to happen.
With the joints out of alignment, forces cannot be transferred through the body as they should be, meaning that these joints are made to move through ranges that they aren’t designed to go through.
This can result in pain!
Postural faults, if left unchecked, can give rise to discomfort, pain, or disability. This could include back and neck pain, knee pain, shoulder pain, and hip pain among others.
However, these postural distortions don’t just affect the joints, they can also affect the underlying structures of the body such as the viscera (internal organs), blood flow, and the intestines. This means that the general functioning of the body will also be impaired.
Problems like poor digestion, infertility, baldness, and headaches can all be associated with bad posture.
On an aesthetic level – no matter how hard you work out in the gym, no matter how slim and toned you get, you’ll never look good if you have bad posture!
Sadly though, this is not just an aesthetic issue and these postural faults need to be addressed with a corrective exercise program. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t have a tough, effective workout – simply that you need to work on the appropriate muscle groups and avoid training the already facilitated (over-active and too strong) muscles.
If you are a sports player this is even more important as these imbalances will cause dysfunction, which in short means you won’t be able to move as well as you should do; and the movements you do do will be more difficult. Imagine the impact on your game if all of your movements were freer and easier… You would save energy, find movements less effort, and open up a whole new range of skills you were previously unable to do!
Most people nowadays suffer from many of the same problems – back pain, neck and shoulder pain, knee pain etc. These can in many cases be caused by the simple fact that most people spend an average of 12+ hours in the seated position, which works to shorten the hip flexors, lower back, and chest, and can weaken the glutes (buttocks), lower abdominals and upper back.
Don’t fear though, all of these problems can be resolved with some hard work and perseverance. The first step in correcting these imbalances is to identify which muscles are short/tight, and which are weak. Then you can start working to correct these faults and look forward to a pain-free future.
An assessment of your kinetic chain can identify all of these problems and give you the means to start your corrective program. It looks at muscle imbalances, core function, and both static and dynamic (with movement) posture.
I hope this article has been of some help to you and that you will start on your way to a healthier, more functional body.
To your success,
Mark Broadbent
Dip. PT, Dip. IIST, KCA
www.markonefitness.co.uk
About Author
Mark is a Personal Trainer in the Kent area, specializing in Golf Biomechanics. For more information visit http://www.markonefitness.co.uk
Article Source:
http://www.1888articles.com
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