The Power of the Adjustment…Improves Posture by Dr. Janna House

The Way I See It…

Your posture says a lot about your personality. It also says a lot about how efficiently your joints and muscles are working. Imagine a strong, powerful, confident person standing in front of you. What kind of posture do they have? Probably, this person is standing tall, shoulders back and head held high. When you change your posture, you change the way the world perceives you, you feel better and you function better. Isn’t that what we all want? I know I want that for myself and for you!

The Science Behind It…

Poor posture can be detrimental to your health and well-being.

Even minor forward head posture was shown to be detrimental. From breathing and heart rate, to pain and disability, all health markers that were measured worsened as the posture deviations increased. This again clearly demonstrates the relationship between a bad spine (vertebral subluxation) and its implications on human health, particularly as it relates to non-musculoskeletal physiology. [2]

A study was published in the Medical Journal of SPINE in 2005 by a team of Doctors headed up by Dr. Steven Glassman. [3] They measured posture in 752 subjects. (They measured alignment from C7 as it related to the sacrum on the sagittal plane of full-spine x-rays.) They also had the subjects complete a questionnaire related to measures of health, including, pain, activity level, mood, productivity, self-image, medication, socialization, financial status and frequency of acute sickness/illness. The findings were astonishing!

They found that all measures of health status showed significantly poorer scores as posture deviations increased.

All Chiropractic adjustments help to restore posture by improving motion and spinal integrity which improves afferent input into the spinal cord and brain, thus, allowing the body to comprehend and balance itself better in relation to gravity. [2]

What This Means to You….

The first step to achieving proper posture is to address the very thing that is causing the problem in the first place, spinal alignment. A chiropractor will be able to assess and improve the alignment of your spine and give you the starting point for achieving perfect posture.

Next, follow one of many suggestions, found here [4], to improve and maintain your posture.

References…

[1] http://www.historybyzim.com/2013/07/miss-correct-posture-1956/

[2] Dan Sullivan, The Chiropractic Advocate, http://www.chiropracticadvocate.com

[3] http://www.danmurphydc.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/archive/2005/Article_30-05.glassman.pdf

[4] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-greenfield/posture-and-health_b_3277058.html

http://www.medicaldaily.com/change-your-posture-improve-your-mood-memory-and-5-other-aspects-your-life-289724