Corrective posture is the ideal alignment of your body from head to toes, which allows your joints and muscles to work most efficiently and safely for long periods. Although the ‘ideal’ alignment will differ depending on the individual, this has been difficult to achieve given the increased sedentary nature of our daily lives with increased computer usage. Other causative factors can stem from repetitive manual jobs which require sustained or repetitive postures, previous injuries whereby ‘pain’ compensated postures are retained or school-bag related issues contributing to a child’s forward slumped posture.
If a poor postural alignment is not addressed, it will result in a load imbalance through the weight bearing joints in your spine and place added strain to the surrounding muscles, ligaments and tendons as they shorten, become weak and affect the overall movement quality. Eventually, there will also be flow on effects from your shoulders and/or hips down.
At North Shore Physio & Pilates, we will provide solutions to your postural dysfunction by completing a comprehensive assessment to identify the ‘hot-spot’ areas with abnormally high amounts of stress before they cause subsequent flow-on effects to other joints. We will then provide you with a recommended action plan which may involve manual therapy to correct an alignment issue in your spine, home exercises or even to join our physiotherapy exercise (Pilates) classes if you require close supervision to strengthen your core and postural-related muscles, advice on workstation ergonomics and education on corrective lifting techniques or school/work-related postures.