Posture refers to the positioning of your body whilst engaged in an activity, thus we have seated, standing, lying, lifting, carrying postures etc. all of which contribute to spinal abuse if not properly executed.
Posture also refers to the shape of your spine and the net effect that it has on your other postures and general wellbeing. It is this description of posture that I will be discussing in this article. The former description will be covered in another article

The curves of the spine

Looked at from the side the ideal healthy spine has four curves. The forward curving parts are called lordoses and occur in the cervical spine (neck) and lumbar spine (low back). The backward curving parts are call kyphoses and occur in the thoracic spine (mid to upper back) and the sacrum & coccyx (tailbone). These curves are very important as they provide flexibility to the spine and enable it to absorb gravitational forces and reduce shock loading through the disks. The ideal spine also allows for the muscles (front and back) to be in balance thereby expending the least amount of energy in maintaining an upright posture.

Deviations from the ideal spinal shape lead to unnatural postures such as shown in the diagram below. Looking at the diagram from right to left it can be seen how postural deviations place additional stresses on both the spine and its supporting musculature. This causes the muscles to work excessively hard all the time and places abnormal stresses on the spine and intervertebral disks, leading to disk degeneration and spinal subluxations that impede communication between the central nervous system and the body resulting in an imbalance in the autonomic nervous system, depressed immune system, poor health/wellness, pain syndromes and accelerated aging.

Our postural correction programme is designed to help you obtain and maintain good posture.