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| Like Wolverine. Only much, much slower. |
However, this machine isn't perfect, for a number of reasons. For one, the thing that makes it work so efficiently can also make it vulnerable. Take the body's ability to automate functions. Digestion? good. Kidney function? Good. Adaptive postural changes due to prolonged sitting? Not so good. You see, the body is very malleable, like a sort of living, organic android. Its structure (hardware) and motor pathways (software) are essentially a function of the stimulus going in, and stimulus going out. Our environment affects the structure, which affects our motor control, which revolves back into a twisted feedback loop where good behaviours are rewarded and bad behaviours punished, usually in the form of injury or pain.
Take the example of sitting, a true curse to modern society, there really isn't any way to sit properly. In short, there is no good sitting position. In the words of Kelly Starrett, "the ass is not a load-bearing surface". Prolonged sitting in front of a computer will kill your glutes, ventrally displace the head of your femurs, create instability in your lumbar spine, hypomobility in your thoracic spine, forwardly displaced shoulders, and overextended cervical spine and protruding head. No wonder people suffer from pain. In fact, considering our lifestyles, its a miracle not more people are suffering. Another testament to the strength of the human machine.
Because of all this, we need to do things that aren't really natural. We need to exercise, do warmups, movement prep, manual therapy, and get ergonomic chairs. A tiger or monkey doesn't need to warm up, it's already moving in a natural environment. It's already constantly "warmed up". The problem is, humans don't look at exercise as a natural medicine to restore the body to its healthiest state of being, they see it as a way to boost their egos and engage in competition, where in most cases, they do more harm than good. No one ever said professional athletics was healthy. Especially when average people are training like they're heading to the Olympics.
The emphasis should be on using exercise to strengthen the body, and to be in the best possible position, thus achieving optimum stability and reducing damaging shear forces. Take the example of hunched-over shoulders. We refer to this as a "protracted" shoulder, or ventrally displaced humerus. The shoulder joint is a ball and socket joint, meaning it is a ball (upper arm) that rolls around in the socket (glenoid fossa). For optimum shoulder movement, meaning best power output and lowest injury risk (shear forces), the shoulder needs to be in what we call an "instantaneous axis of rotation", meaning the ball is smack-bang center of the socket. If it is displaced forward due to prolonged sitting, the gliding of the upper arm bone will be compromised, shear forces will occur, and inflammation and pain will inevitably ensue.
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| Yours truly droppin' some knowledge at the Oslo Kettlebell Gym |
So, what's a posturally-aware, fun-lovin' girl to do? Well, in my practice, I take the client through several processes. These are:
Part 1
1. Postural awareness and assessment
Part 2
2. Restore joint position manually or through mobility drills
3. When repositioning the joint is insufficient to resolve the pain and/or dysfunction, normalise gliding surfaces (soft tissue)
Part 3
4. Preserve improved position through purposeful exercise and mindful daily activities
This rest of this article will detail Part 1: Postural awareness and assessment
So, what the heck is good posture and why is it important? Well, we've touched upon the importance of a good shoulder position above. When training the body we must view it as a single unit, and the tensegrity approach is a wonderful paradigm to explain this. Traditionally the body has been viewed as an assemblage of separate parts like bricks in a house. However, when you destroy part of a house, the rest remains, unmoving and still functional. The body on the other hand, is different. The injury of one part, leads to a cascade of compensatory patterns and systemic weakening. According to Thomas Myers, superstar bodyworker, author of Anatomy Trains, and general badass fascia-ist, the body is more like a sailboat, where each line and rope holds the sail up, and keeps the boat moving in a tensional way. An increase in tension in one area, leads to changes in another, and so forth.
It become apparent that our previous, reductionist view of the body is antiquated. Trainers will often tell clients to stretch and get more flexible, because mobility is what its all about, or to train stability, because that's the most important thing. The truth is that what's important is balance. A tensional balance in the body that keeps all your bones aligned in a way that optimises movement efficiency and minimizes shear forces on your joints. In fact, it's almost better to be a little tight, but still mobile enough to move efficiently. Some of the most prolific yoga instructors in the US for instance, super flexible as they are, are riddled with injuries. A tensional balance and functional mobility is what the body craves and ironically, training for better alignment and posture will lead to greater force output and performance in almost all sports.
Make your training stance your everyday stance. Many people train correctly, but don't transfer this to correct biomechanics in their daily activities. They mistakenly believe that training ends when you leave the gym. This is wrong, and one should practice mindfulness and correct posture continuously throughout the day. Hard work? Yes, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
So, in summary.. Fix your posture!
Below is an example of different but common postures.
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| I'm a typical "lumbar lordosis" or what we call "Donald Duck" posture. I'm always fighting this. |
You want to be, you guessed it, the one at the far right. The plumb line down the centre should cross through your mastoid process (bone at back of ear), shoulder joint, hip joint, knee, and ankle joints. This is the most efficient way to stand to avoid shear forces and resulting pain and dysfunction. Here's a good way to sequence the movements to get into this posture for most people.
1. Stand with your feet pointing forward, and parallel like two railroad tracks.
2. Squeeze your butt to place your pelvis in neutral.
3. Align the ribs over your pelvis by dropping them slightly. Imagine your ribs and pelvis are two bowls full of water, you want to straighten them so nothing spills over the edge.
4. Tighten your abs (it requires about 20% tension in your abs to maintain stability in your lumbar spine during standing).
5. Turn your thumbs so they are facing forward.
6. Pull your shoulder blades slightly backward without elevating them.
7. Pull your chin slightly back like you're trying to make a double chin but not all the way.
8. Screw your feet into the ground lightly to create a slight external rotation torque in the hip and knee
And voila! behold, a stable, optimal posture!
Sounds like hard work huh? Well yeah, it actually is.. in the beginning. Over time your efforts will be rewarded as your body now automates the improved postural motor program into your motor cortex, myelinisation occurs, and we have now created a new, better, more optimal reality. Your body does what it does best.. Adapt.
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| Posturally correct, and somewhat bitchy, Christmas candy |
To achieve this new, beautiful reality isn't easy. When I tell clients they need to do this they look at me incredulous, thinking, OMFG do I have to do this all the time?? And then I say, yes.. Yes you do.
Now you do too.
Stay tuned to part two and three of this article for techniques to mobilise your body into a good position, and how to train to keep it there.
