I regularly deal with people who have significant injuries. These are
not caused by accidents but by long-term poor posture and movement patterns
They manifest themselves into disc herniations, sciatica, shoulder
impingements, bad knees, sore necks and painful Achilles tendons that won’t
repair – to name just to name a few.
They occur from a lack of education or understanding of the natural and
optimal body position.
How we hold ourselves and move everyday is the key to being pain free
and having healthy tissue, joints and nervous system.
Learning the basics of body positioning and how to move and lift
efficiently is essential knowledge. Otherwise we are set up for a lifetime of
pain and discomfort.
Most of the people I treat have rotated pelvises, round shoulders,
scoliosis in their spines, tight hips or hamstrings that are tightened through
core weakness.
These people sit poorly for hours every day and have no idea how to
move, bend and lift to protect their bodies.
These positions starting in early adolescence. Teenagers stoop if they
are taller than their peers, carry heavy school bags on one shoulder and play
unilateral sports; these positions follow through for many years to come.
The focus on losing weight means people will hammer themselves, running
or jumping around in group classes or at boot camps. Some participants are
taught Olympic lifting that requires much awareness and skill when they can’t
even hold themselves up properly.
This is madness. Most people are weak in their stabiliser system and
set themselves up for injury when the are doing movements they can’t control.
I believe in empowerment and that everyone from housewife to athlete
should have daily tools to mobilise and move their bodies to keep joints from
locking up like a rusty old car.
If a car has a bent chassis that is throwing tension into the wheels
and causing them to wear badly it will be fixed. But this is what’s happening
with a lot of bodies.
Many orthopedic injuries and surgeries could be prevented if people
took responsibility to learn the tools they need to sustain their own bodies.
Poor body positioning can be easily remedied with the right education and
prevent much pain in the future.
It is deeply ingrained in people to fix things when they are broken
rather than looking at possibility of prevention. But you don’t want to run
your body into the ground until it fails before you do something about looking
after it.
Michelle Owen is a postural and wellness specialist, corporate wellness
speaker and CHEK practitioner
michelle@michelleowen.co.nz
