Enhance your movement awareness with this evidence-based guide on the science of posture and how it integrates with your senses, awareness, and musculoskeletal system.
High Tech World
With too many distractions...
In today's fast-paced world, we are often distracted by technology, stress, and busy schedules. As a result, we may lose focus, become overstimulated by external sources, and forget to pay attention to our body positioning and body movements. Sometimes we may even go throughout the day without even being aware of how we've moved our bodies. However, it's important to remember that we are in control of our body, which is an incredible and complex machine. Knowing how you use and move your body will help maintain its postural balance and overall well-being.
So, what about postural awareness and your senses?
Being aware of your body positioning can have a significant impact on your daily movement, rehabilitation of injury, and overall sports performance. If you are connected and aware of your movements, you can perform them at a higher level. Instead of mechanically going through the motions, you would have a better sense of why and how your body is moving. This can work wonders for your body in many ways. Unfortunately, many people misunderstand the concept of posture and believe that it simply means maintaining a rigid body position or that you either have good or bad posture. While correct body positioning is important, there is much more to posture than that. Proper posture requires a comprehensive multisensory system and the ability to control your movements effectively.
Let's tap into your Spidey Senses.
By the end of this blog post, you will have a better understanding of the postural awareness system. You will also be able to increase your body awareness and learn additional tips and tricks to help you improve your reflexes and sense of body positioning and control.
During this blog, I may refer to posture as body positioning, which can bring more clarity to certain topics.
To understand the postural awareness process, we will cover:
The meaning of posture
How reflexes, senses, awareness, and postural control works.
Anatomy and Biomechanics.
How you can start to improve your postural awareness.
What research says about poor posture and its effects on the body.
The definition of posture.
Most of the time when movement professionals bring up posture, it is referred to as a certain body positioning that is either correct or wrong. But it goes slightly further than just incorrect or correct body positioning. Let's take a look at what the actual word posture means.
Posture refers to the way the body is positioned in space and is controlled by a complex system of senses and anatomical structures. Maintaining and controlling posture involves a series of interactions among the muscle-skeletal, visual, vestibular, and skin systems. In other words, posture involves not just the physical body but also an interaction between the senses, your awareness, and the brain.
It involves proprioception of how you are moving, feeling, and sensing. Posture starts as a form of awareness, like a radar that allows your mind and senses to drive your body so that you can interact with your environment. It is an ongoing connection between you and the world around you.
To better understand posture, let's examine some of the systems involved in maintaining body positioning.
The 3 Main Drivers of Posture
The Vestibular System
The vestibular system plays an important role in maintaining body posture, coordinating movements, and preventing falls.
It collaborates with other sensory systems to achieve this goal. The primary sensory systems involved in balance and postural control are the visual system, which provides information about our surroundings; the vestibular system, which senses linear and angular head motion in space; and the somatosensory system, which conveys information from our skin, muscles, and joints. Together, these systems enable us to maintain stability and adjust our posture as needed.
Reflexes and the senses
Several reflexes work in conjunction with the vestibular system to maintain posture and balance.
These include the Cervicalocollic Reflex (CCR), which influences neck and head movements; the Vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), which helps stabilize gaze during head movements; and the Vestibulospinal Reflex (VSR), which controls axial and appendicular muscles for posture. The vestibular nuclei and cerebellum also contribute to maintaining posture and balance.
Making sense of it...
I was thinking about how much cell phones impact us, specifically our head positioning and senses. It's possible that these factors have the biggest influence on our posture, as it all seems to start with our visual system, senses, reflexes, and head angle. Do you think that the constant distraction caused by technology and the way we hold our phones is affecting our body positioning and our ability to sense our environment?
The Goals of Postural Control and Coordination is focused on achieving two primary objectives:
Postural orientation involves maintaining appropriate alignment between body parts, especially the head and trunk, and understanding our relationship with the environment, achieved through multiple sensory inputs.
Postural equilibrium, also known as balance, refers to an individual's ability to maintain control of their body's center of mass during self-initiated or externally triggered stimuli. Self-initiated stimuli could include performing a balancing yoga pose, while externally triggered stimuli could include catching oneself during a fall. A person's response in these situations relies on their prior experiences, movement memories, muscular tone, and the goal of the movement they are performing.
Challenge...
Can you stand on one leg and hold your balance for 1 minute?
Research says...
Successful 10-second one-legged stance performance predicts survival in middle-aged and older individuals | British Journal of Sports Medicine (bmj.com)
Now I do think that's a bit drastic, but hey.
It is important to note that the body needs to synchronize and coordinate all its systems in order to work together properly. To execute proper postural control, one must engage in various activities without compensatory movements or motions. When one system is misfiring or affected somehow, the other systems will compensate to maintain balance and stability.
Here's a thought...
If one system misfires and the other has to work harder to compensate, could this lead to tightness, tension, pain, discomfort in muscles, and joint misalignment?
Let's take a close look at anatomy.
The muscular-skeletal system & biomechanics
I will focus on four main segments of the body: the head, spine, pelvis, and feet, along with the surrounding musculature that supports them.
The Head and Cervical Spine
It is important to start with the head position. The balancing of the head triggers various senses and reflexes. As we discussed earlier, the control of eye gaze and head movement are interconnected. Since the human head weighs between 8 to 12 pounds, it is prone to lose its balance, which can affect eye gaze and motion head control. This imbalance can then lead to issues in the lower-level structures of the spine.
Spinal Curves
The "S" curve of the spine is an essential wave that helps maintain proper balance when standing and acts as a shock absorber when in motion. Losing one of the spinal curves disrupts the balance of the other curves. The spine, along with its 31 nerves, transmits motor, sensory, and autonomic signals between the central nervous system (CNS) and the body. This makes it a significant regulator in your system that controls a lot of functions. Let's take a look at this image that highlights the spine.
The Powerhouse Pelvic Hip Complex.
The lumbopelvic hip complex is a crucial area in our body that generates power for movement. It consists of several stabilizing muscles that allow us to have complete control over our upper and lower body movements. When these muscles are strong and stable, they enable us to have extensive ranges of motion through the ball and socket joint. This is essential for performing daily activities such as walking, running, climbing, standing up, squatting, and picking up objects. It's important to understand that we constantly use our lower body in some way or another, making this area highly significant for daily activities, movement, and performance.
Feet Sensors.
Your feet have sensors that play a vital role in communicating postural awareness and control. These sensors detect joint angles, muscle tension, and pressure and help you maintain your balance. Your feet are responsible for connecting your body to the ground. If there are any issues with the feet such as disturbances, disconnection, or desensitization, it can cause your head posture and trunk to tilt forward. This can make the vestibular system work harder while postural foot sensors fire less frequently. Consequently, the body will start to compensate for the misfiring system causing other systems to work more to do the job of the affected one. Always remember that if one system is not working correctly, it can disturb the other systems.
Taking responsibility.
Without proper attention to posture and regular practice, gravity can have a negative impact on weight distribution as we move through our environment. This awareness comes from being constantly attuned to our movements and checking in on them throughout the day. It's not about maintaining a rigid posture, which is what physical therapists seem to go against. Rather, it's about having a sensible connection with our body's positions, both in static and dynamic postures.
Why it matters...
Injury rehab: Awareness of your movements and effective execution of them in and out of training can help you avoid potential muscular-skeletal injuries or relapses of injuries. If you were injured and continue to get injured, you want to check in with your movements.
Daily movements: With heightened awareness of your body positioning, you can execute natural daily movements more effectively. Our daily movements are more unconscious actions, such as playing with your children, helping a friend move, or washing your car.
Performance and fitness: It's simple... The more aware and connected you are to your movement... the more muscles are fired during training. You will increase strength and minimize compensation during training. Better movements = bigger gains!
This leads us to the tips and tricks that can help you improve your sensory perception, awareness, and posture control.
The Work...
Tips and tricks to help you reclaim your posture and movement awareness.
Check your head posture.
It's essential for maintaining full-body equilibrium. It's very important to work on this both in life and during training!
Set reminders.
Set a timer or place a note on your desk to remind yourself to check in and adjust your body positioning throughout the day. Periodically checking can help you become more aware of how you move throughout the day.
Be aware.
Reminders will help build that stronger postural awareness. Have the thought in the back of your mind; remember, it is a form of awareness that requires you to engage with your surroundings continuously.
Practice static sitting posture.
Most people sit in a posterior pelvic tilt, which can affect the position of their thoracic spine and disrupt breath expansion and breathing patterns. Practice readjusting your sitting posture so you are not actively compressing your body especially if you're sitting for long periods of time.
Walk around after sitting for 1 hour.
If you spend long hours sitting, it is important to take breaks and move your body to allow circulation and decompression. Stand up and walk around for approximately 5 to 8 minutes. You may also consider using standing desks as an alternative. If you are using a standing desk, you can alternate between sitting and standing, giving you more freedom to change body positions while working.
Walk barefoot.
As previously mentioned, our feet possess a considerable amount of sensors and nerves. To ensure a strong connection with the ground and prevent desensitization of our feet, it is essential to practice walking around barefoot. By doing so, you can enable the soles of your feet to become more aware of the ground and develop a better sense of contact awareness.
Practice balance exercises.
Simple balance exercises can help strengthen your feet, ankles, and lower body stability along with proprioceptive awareness since you have to control your center of mass to maintain balance. Master this quick balance routine with 3 sets of 10 repetitions on each side, suitable for all levels!
The squat.
You can also check out this video, where I review how to reclaim your squat movement. This movement is essential for daily activities such as picking up or lifting objects off the ground safely.
Posture blog.
This blog offers great tips for those who have to sit for long periods of time and also highlights general body positioning adjustments that can improve your overall posture.
Side note...
Structural Deformities and Neurological Disorders:
Medical and professional management is necessary for conditions affecting the musculoskeletal system, such as scoliosis, and neurological disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, which can impact posture and movement.
Last but not least, heavy amounts of research.
If you want to delve deeper into research, I saved the bad news for last. These titles showcase the consequences of poor body awareness and positioning, so think of them as the end credits.
Research
Wrapping it up!
There's a lot of exciting information to take in, but I believe that sums it up. Keep in mind that everything in life takes practice, which means you'll see progress over time. Do your best, and most importantly, stay informed. The more you know, the better you'll do.
Thanks for sticking around and reading through the blog. I really hope you found it helpful and gained some new knowledge. Can't wait to see you again on the next blog!
Are you interested in learning more about your unique body alignment? Let's collaborate to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Schedule a free online training assessment today to develop a personalized plan that fits your needs.
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