Assessing Common Postural Faults

There are many reasons why your body has become misaligned. When any part of the body becomes dysfunctional the whole unit is affected. Even though some muscles are not doing their job effectively, you still have to get on with your day to day life so other muscles compensate for weaknesses. Using your body in a faulty manner reinforces these imbalances. Eventually you may start to ache in those areas that need to compensate. Aches and pains are the body’s way of alerting you to a problem. You may even get injured or at best suffer chronic pain, commonly in the neck, back knees, hips or shoulders. It is advisable to get an accurate assessment of the imbalance from a trained professional whilst it is still in its early stages as it is best to try to remedy the problem before your body overcompensates. Think about the way you feel when you sit for long periods of time. Is your neck sore on one side? Does your lower back ache? This is not the way you are supposed to feel. If your body is doing its job correctly, you should not be experiencing pain or discomfort at any one place in your back or neck from sitting or standing for long periods.

So why are our bodies not doing what they were originally intended for? Most people live in a stress-filled environment. Life has become faster, more is expected, and in order to cope many devices have been designed for increased convenience and reduced effort. Devices like remote controls, lifts and cars have meant that we are less physically active than previous generations. This lack of activity has led to a rise in obesity levels and conditions such as heart disease. We can no longer rely on general activity to keep us healthy, so we have to look at increasing our exercise levels. Stress and tension in the body can be very damaging, sousing imbalances that make muscles over-tight and this can lead to movement becoming restricted. You can tell a lot about your body from your shoes. Look at a pair of your own shoes with leather and not rubber soles. Are they more worn on the inside or the outside? Does the sole of one shoe look older than the other? Are the toes pushing against one side of only one of the shoes? Most people have slightly misaligned feet but, if this is a distinct pattern or causes discomfort, it may be worth checking with a qualified specialist. You may have an actual postural deviation that inhibits the maintenance of correct posture. If so, this should be dealt with by a medical practitioner.

Tips:

1. The hip joints may be uneven, with the weight unevenly distributed between the feet.
2. The head may be tilted to one side, creating muscular imbalances in the neck and back.
3. The head may just forward out of alignment with the spine.

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