Correcting standing posture

Our mothers were right when they told us to stand up straight. Not only do you look better but your joints are able to sit easily on top of one another with very little muscular effort. Good posture should be easy and comfortable with no particular muscle group working too hard.

The information in today’s post comes from Dr Stuart Mc Gill a top back pain researcher from Canada.

Anterior weight shift

Your client is standing in a normal position do not tell them how to stand it must be completely natural as they do in everyday life.

Put your fingers in the lumbar curve and palpate the erector spinae muscles. You will either feel two very tight hard bands in which case your client is standing in a flexed position or two soft bands of muscle in which case they are standing in a neutral position.

People who stand with their lumbar muscles turned on in a flexed position are simply crushing their dics all day long and in the worst case scenario this could lead to a posterior disc herniation with sciatica or femoral nerve pain.

Posterior weight shift

Most of our clients just need to be cued to stand straight and lean back a little.This may feel and look strange to them because it is not normal by todays standards but they would not look out of place in the company of dancers ,yogis or gymnasts who look beautiful simply by their upright postures.