Improve your understanding of movement with this research-backed guide that delves into the science of posture and its connections to your senses, awareness, and musculoskeletal system.
High Tech World
With too many distractions...
In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to get sidetracked by technology, stress, and our hectic schedules. As a result, we might lose our focus, become overwhelmed by external distractions, and overlook the importance of our body positioning and movements. Often, we go through the day without even noticing how we carry ourselves. However, it’s crucial to remember that we have control over our bodies, which are remarkable and intricate machines. Understanding how we move and use our bodies can significantly contribute to maintaining our postural balance and enhancing our overall well-being.
So, what about postural awareness and your senses?
Being mindful of your body positioning can significantly influence your daily movements, aid in injury rehabilitation, and enhance overall sports performance. When you connect with and understand your movements, you can execute them more effectively. Rather than just going through the motions mechanically, you'll gain insight into why and how your body moves. This awareness can greatly benefit your physical well-being in various ways. Unfortunately, many people misinterpret the concept of posture, thinking it only involves maintaining a rigid position or categorizing it as strictly good or bad. While correct body alignment is crucial, posture encompasses much more than that. Achieving proper posture involves a comprehensive multisensory approach and the ability to control your movements with effectiveness.
Let's tap into your Spidey Senses.
By the end of this blog post, you'll gain a clearer understanding of the postural awareness system. Additionally, you'll enhance your body awareness and discover valuable tips and tricks to boost your reflexes, as well as improve your 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 grasp the concept of postural awareness, we will explore the following topics:
- The significance of posture
- The interplay between reflexes, senses, awareness, and postural control
- A look at anatomy and biomechanics
- Practical steps to enhance your postural awareness
- Insights from research on the effects of poor posture on the body
The definition of posture.
When movement professionals discuss posture, it’s often viewed simply as a matter of being correct or incorrect in body positioning. However, the concept of posture goes beyond this binary understanding. Let’s explore what posture really means.
Posture refers to how the body is positioned in space, a process governed by a complex interplay of senses and anatomical structures. Keeping and controlling posture requires the collaboration of the musculoskeletal, visual, vestibular, and skin systems. In essence, posture encompasses not just the physical aspect of the body but also involves an intricate relationship between our senses, awareness, and the brain.
Posture is fundamentally about proprioception—the way you sense and move your body. It begins with awareness, acting like a radar that helps your mind and senses guide your physical movements, enabling you to engage effectively with your surroundings. This creates an ongoing connection between you and the world around you.
To gain a clearer understanding of posture, let’s take a closer look at the various systems that play a role in maintaining body alignment.
The 3 Main Drivers of Posture
The Vestibular System
The vestibular system is crucial for maintaining body posture, coordinating movements, and preventing falls. It works closely with other sensory systems to achieve these goals. The main sensory systems involved in balance and postural control include the visual system, which gives us information about our environment; the vestibular system, which detects both linear and angular head movements in space; and the somatosensory system, which communicates information from our skin, muscles, and joints. Together, these systems allow us to stay stable and adjust our posture as necessary.
Reflexes and the Senses
A number of reflexes operate alongside the vestibular system to help maintain posture and balance. These include the Cervicalocollic Reflex (CCR), which affects head and neck movements; the Vestibulo-ocular Reflex (VOR), which stabilizes our gaze during head movements; and the Vestibulospinal Reflex (VSR), which manages the muscles in the body for posture. Additionally, the vestibular nuclei and cerebellum play significant roles in keeping our posture and balance stable.
Reflecting on the topic, I’ve been considering the significant impact cell phones have on us, particularly regarding our head positioning and sensory perception. It seems that these aspects play a crucial role in our overall posture, as everything appears to originate from our visual system, sensory input, reflexes, and head tilt. Do you think that the constant distractions from technology and the way we hold our phones are influencing not only our body alignment but also our awareness of our surroundings?
The objectives of postural control and coordination are centered around two main goals:
Postural orientation focuses on maintaining proper alignment between different body parts, particularly the head and trunk, while also understanding our position in relation to the environment. This alignment is achieved through a combination of sensory inputs.
Postural equilibrium, commonly referred to as balance, encompasses an individual's ability to keep their body's center of mass stable in response to both self-initiated and external triggers. For instance, self-initiated stimuli could involve holding a balancing yoga pose, whereas external stimuli might include catching oneself during a fall. A person's reactions in these scenarios are influenced by their past experiences, movement memories, muscle tone, and the specific purpose of the movement they are executing.
Challenge...
Can you stand on one leg and hold your balance for 2 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's essential to understand that the body needs to synchronize and coordinate all its systems to function effectively. Achieving proper postural control requires engaging in various activities without resorting to compensatory movements. If one system is not working correctly or is affected in any way, the other systems will step in to compensate, helping to maintain balance and stability.
Here's an idea to consider...
If one system fails to function properly and the other has to pick up the slack, could this result in tightness, tension, pain, and discomfort in the muscles, as well as misalignment in the joints?
Let’s delve into the anatomy a bit more closely.
The Musculoskeletal System and Biomechanics
This discussion will highlight four key areas of the body: the head, spine, pelvis, and feet, along with the muscles that support these structures.
The Head and Cervical Spine
It’s crucial to begin by examining head position, as it significantly influences various senses and reflexes. As mentioned earlier, the coordination between eye gaze and head movement is closely linked. Given that the human head weighs between 8 to 12 pounds, it can easily become unbalanced, which may impact both gaze and head movement control. When this balance is disrupted, it can lead to problems in lower spinal structures.
Spinal Curves
The “S” curve of the spine plays a crucial role in maintaining balance while standing and acts as a shock absorber during movement. When one of the spinal curves becomes compromised, it can throw off the balance of the remaining curves. The spine, along with its 31 pairs of nerves, is responsible for transmitting motor, sensory, and autonomic signals between the central nervous system (CNS) and the rest of the body. This makes it a key player in regulating numerous functions throughout your system. Let’s take a look at the accompanying image that illustrates the spine.
The Powerhouse of the Pelvic Hip Complex
The lumbopelvic hip complex is a vital part of our body that plays a key role in generating movement power. It comprises several stabilizing muscles that give us complete control over both our upper and lower body movements. When these muscles are strong and stable, they allow for a wide range of motion through the ball-and-socket joint, which is crucial for everyday tasks. Activities like walking, running, climbing, standing up, squatting, and lifting objects all rely on this complex. It's essential to realize that we constantly engage our lower body, making this area incredibly important for our daily activities, overall movement, and physical performance.
Feet Sensors
Your feet contain sensors that are essential for maintaining postural awareness and control. These sensors detect joint angles, muscle tension, and pressure, helping you keep your balance. By connecting your body to the ground, your feet play a critical role in overall stability. However, if there are problems with your feet—like disturbances, disconnections, or loss of sensitivity—it can lead to your head and trunk tilting forward. This puts extra strain on the vestibular system while the postural foot sensors become less active. As a result, your body may start compensating for this miscommunication, forcing other systems to compensate for the affected one. It’s important to remember that when one system isn’t functioning properly, it can throw off the balance of other systems as well.
Taking responsibility.
Without paying close attention to our posture and engaging in regular practice, gravity can negatively affect how weight is distributed as we navigate our surroundings. This understanding comes from being consistently aware of our movements and checking in on them throughout the day. It’s not about forcing a rigid posture, which seems to contradict what physical therapists advocate. Instead, it's about cultivating a sensible awareness of our body's positioning, whether we're standing still or moving around.
Why it matters...
Injury Rehabilitation: Being mindful of your movements and executing them properly, both during training and in everyday life, can help you steer clear of potential musculoskeletal injuries or setbacks from previous injuries. If you've experienced injuries and find yourself getting hurt again, it's important to reassess how you move.
Daily Movements: By sharpening your awareness of body positioning, you can perform everyday activities more effectively. Our daily actions often become automatic, whether it’s playing with your kids, lending a hand to a friend who’s moving, or cleaning your car.
Performance and Fitness: It’s quite straightforward—the more in tune you are with your movements, the more muscles you activate during your workouts. This leads to greater strength gains while minimizing compensatory movements. Improving your movement quality directly translates to more substantial results!
With that in mind, let’s delve into some tips and tricks to enhance your sensory perception, boost awareness, and improve posture control.
The Work...
Tips and tricks to help you reclaim your posture and movement awareness.
Pay attention to your head posture:
It's crucial for achieving overall balance in your body. Focusing on this aspect is important, both in your everyday life and during your training sessions.!
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.
Many people tend to sit in a posterior pelvic tilt, which can alter the alignment of their thoracic spine and interfere with proper breath expansion and overall breathing patterns. It’s important to adjust your sitting posture regularly, especially if you find yourself sitting for extended periods. This will help ensure that you’re not compressing your body and can breathe more freely.
Walk around after sitting for 1 hour.
If you find yourself sitting for extended periods, it's essential to take regular breaks and move around to promote circulation and relieve tension. Aim to stand up and walk for about 5 to 8 minutes. You might also think about using a standing desk as an alternative. With a standing desk, you can switch between sitting and standing, allowing you the flexibility to change your position while you work.
Walk barefoot.
As I mentioned earlier, our feet are equipped with numerous sensors and nerves. To maintain a strong connection with the ground and avoid losing sensitivity in our feet, it's important to walk barefoot whenever possible. This practice helps the soles of your feet become more attuned to the ground, enhancing your overall sense of contact awareness.
Practice balance exercises.
Incorporating simple balance exercises into your routine can effectively strengthen your feet, ankles, and the stability of your lower body while also enhancing your proprioceptive awareness, as you'll need to manage your center of mass to keep your balance. Give this quick balance routine a try, performing 3 sets of 10 repetitions on each side. It's suitable for all fitness levels!
The squat.
Be sure to watch this video where I discuss ways to reclaim your squat movement. Mastering this movement is crucial for performing everyday tasks, like safely picking up or lifting objects from the ground.
Posture blog.
This blog provides excellent advice for anyone who needs to sit for extended periods. It also emphasizes various adjustments in body positioning that can enhance your overall posture.
Just a quick note...
When dealing with structural deformities and neurological disorders, it's crucial to seek professional medical guidance. Conditions that affect the musculoskeletal system, like scoliosis, as well as neurological issues such as multiple sclerosis, can have a profound impact on posture and movement.
Finally, it's important to consider the substantial amount of research involved. If you're looking to explore this topic in more depth, I've saved the less-than-pleasant news for last. These titles highlight the repercussions of inadequate body awareness and positioning, so think of them as the closing credits.
Research
Wrapping it up!
There's a wealth of exciting information to absorb, and that pretty much captures the essence. Remember, everything in life requires practice, so you’ll notice your progress unfold over time. Give it your best shot, and above all, stay updated. The more you learn, the better equipped you'll be to succeed.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog! I truly hope you found it informative and walked away with some new insights. I look forward to having you back for the next post!
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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