What is Posture Therapy?
Posture Therapy is a way for people to get themselves out of pain and avoid future pain and injury through a series of corrective exercises and stretches. The series is personalized to you and your body and changes as your body improves. The exercises are designed to improve your alignment (aka your posture), your balance and your range of motion so your can get back to the activities you love. Work, play, and life should be enjoyed pain free.
The muscle-balancing exercises/stretches can be done daily at home with little-to-no equipment and are created to fit your needs (time, space, abilities, etc.)
What do you as Posture Therapist believe about pain and the body?
We believe that musculoskeletal pain is a warning mechanism of the body; somewhat similar to a check engine light on a car. It is our bodies intelligent “voice” telling us that something is off in our system and that we need to take action in order to correct it. We believe that this musculoskeletal pain happens when the body is in misalignment, or when it loses its design posture. Design posture? Think blueprint (see below).
We believe that our body has a blueprint. This blueprint, our alignment, like the blueprint to a building or a car, is there to make sure the body works properly and last a lifetime. If there is proper alignment, there is full range of motion and all the parts are working properly. If there is misalignment then problems begin to pop up. Imagine if the support beams of a building were no longer doing their job – the building would no longer considered safe to inhabit. Or, if the tire alignment was off in your vehicle – unnecessary and potentially dangerous wear and tear would be taking place. Just like the building and car, your body suffers when things differ from their blueprint.
The good news is that we believe the body is the ultimate healing machine. It wants desperately to get back to it’s proper alignment. And, since muscles move bones, we can remind the muscles to hold the bones in the right spot again. We do this through gentle corrective exercises and stretches. The exercises are done each day to keep you feeling good, just like you would brush your teeth each day to keep them healthy.
Why does the body get out of alignment?
The body responds to stimulus – be it positive or negative. Positive design movement is like food for the body and keeps it in good alignment. However, as the majority of the modern world becomes increasingly sedentary, the body isn’t getting enough proper movement. This is when the body begins to develop misalignment through musculoskeletal dysfunctions and compensations. Then the pain begins to set in. So if you spend much time sitting, use a limited range of motion and limited types of movement, your body responds. If you restore proper range of motion and movement, your body also responds. Basically, you get out what you put in.
What makes Posture Therapy different?
We believe the body works as a unit and so Posture Therapy treats it that way too. We don’t look at your symptom, say, in your knee, and only focus on that area. Instead, we look at how your ankle, hip, spine and shoulder work and relate to the knee. The site of the pain is rarely the source of the pain, so if we just only focused on the knee pain we would be ignoring the underlying cause. We don’t treat symptoms; we go after what is causing them. Since we look at your body from head-to-toe your series of exercises will be customized to your body, your abilities and your needs.
We believe you know your body better than anyone else. As therapists we focus on teaching you how to listen to your body and how to get and keep yourself out of pain so you can get back to the activities you love. Your therapist will do no hands-on-therapy. You will be the one doing the work and your therapist will be there to guide you.
How do I know if Posture Therapy can help me?
The best way is to schedule your free evaluation or your first appointment today. You should know by the end of the consultation if this is something you’re interested in and by the end of your first appointment if Posture Therapy is right for you.