Posture. Easy-complex posture

It doesn’t matter what kind body you were born with, strong or delicate, thick or thin, petite or tall, correcting your posture can change your life.  You have no control over the body you inherited, your age or your sex, but they don’t matter! Independent of these factors, correcting your posture will help improve your head and neck position, which will change the condition of your chest and spine for the better. This means you will walk freely. Instead of carrying a heavy burden of pain, your gait will be light.  Your new habit of keeping your body in alignment will prevent pain and tension in the most important parts of your spine and joints. Headaches, spasms, and back pain will vanish.

Following the “EASY POSTURE” complex is simple. You don’t need any special equipment or devices. Anyone, especially children, can and must improve their posture. It is especially important to correct posture when treating and preventing conditions like spinal osteochondrosis, spinal curvatures and disc herniation, neurocirculatory dystonia, headache, tension, and other conditions that are directly influenced by the body’s alignment.  

We know that “pose” and “posture” are different concepts. Pose is temporary and fleeting. It can be vertical, horizontal or sedentary. Posture, on the other hand, describes much more.  It can be kingly or slavish, proud or ingratiating, healthy or even sickly. In other words, posture is not only associated with the position of the body in space, but it also describes both work and even the emotional state of an entire organism. It’s important to realize that posture is also connected with the position of body parts in relationship to each other.

Our mood and emotions influence the state of our posture. It can be happy, confident or disrespectful.  People who are often in the spotlight, like actors, politicians, and public speakers, pay a great deal of attention to their posture. The reverse influence of posture over our psychological state is very strong as well. If you lift your head proudly and square your shoulders, your mood will improve, even if you’re feeling anything other than proud, brave or courageous.

A simple example will prove this. Try this exercise: Raise your head and smile. Now, keep on smiling for 15 seconds. Every person who does this says their mood immediately improves. The movements and position of certain neck and facial muscles actually change your thoughts and create positive emotions throughout the nervous system. The science of neuropsychology deals with these kinds of investigations. This science proved that even a “fake” mechanical smile stimulates a burst of “happiness hormones” called endorphins.

Think about this: a worm has no posture. It lies totally and completely pressed to the ground. But dogs and horses possess a posture which is evaluated by their owners and their buyers at exhibitions and competitions. Man, long ago, picked up a club and started walking upright and at once his posture, which we still have, was originated.

Are humans still evolving? When scientists try to answer this question, they often depict consecutive stages of development. A monkey evolved to a human being. Then, it is assumed by looking at pictures that, in the future, the human being again begins to stoop.  We will eventually become lower and begin to look like our ancestors.

Sedentary work and rest, beginning at a young age, influence human posture in negative ways. It is a well-known fact that more than half of school-aged children have postural defects. Early diseases, arthrosis, and back pain appear as a result. Even people in their teens suffer from all these conditions now. 

Many diseases can leave permanent scars on a person’s appearance and their influence on posture is especially strong. For instance, spinal tuberculosis causes curvature of the spine and a shaking tremor which is visible even to nonprofessionals. Elderly people with crooked backs often suffer from spinal stenosis, caused by a narrowing of the spinal canal or osteoporosis (bone fragility). We will review these diseases later. But it’s important to know that the incorrect posture of a healthy child or teen can lead to diseases in adulthood.

To better understand this, do another self-experiment. Walk around the room for about 5 minutes, bent forward from your waist.  In less than a minute, you’ll start to feel pain, not only in your lower back, but also in your neck and head. In this case, your pain is due not only to muscle fatigue, but also because of microscopic injury to your ligaments and joints. It is these micro-traumas that cause deformities in the joints and spine, and the appearance of osteophytes, which are bone spurs.

If you’re an adult, your posture has already been formed. Your health, occupation, habits, and even social status and education are reflected in your posture as if it’s a mirror. You use your posture every second of your life. It influences your health all the time, either extending your life or hastening diseases and old age. Maybe you feel like giving up because you think you can’t improve your posture.  Well, that’s not entirely true!

Our bodies aren’t made of plastic that can be changed and molded to fit our every desire. But we do have the freedom to change the position of our body parts by using some simple movements and poses. This can make our overall posture more harmonious and physiologically correct. If you do this regularly, your body actually memorizes your moves. You form a habit that will work for you like the words of this old proverb: to sow the thought and reap the action, to sow the action and reap the habit, to sow the habit and reap the character, to sow the character and reap the destiny. 

Maybe you’re wondering if this is really true. Do you need proof? If so, the evidence is found in a purely scientific experiment. In 2008, The British Medical Journal published the results of an investigation conducted by 64 general practitioners. These doctors worked with 579 patients who had constant back pain. Nearly half of these patients (288 people) performed exercises for changing and improving their posture. The rest of the participants only received passive medical massage. The condition of the patients in both groups was monitored at 3 months and at 12 months. It was found that the exercises were greatly effective in reducing back pain. Postural trainings for 6 months and for 24 months were equally helpful.

These scientific proofs instill hope. They are especially encouraging for children.  We can and must give our children the knowledge of correct and healthy posture which will serve them throughout their lives.

In this book, I invite you not only to improve your posture, I also encourage you to transform yourself physically and mentally. Every one of us needs our own terms for consistent, positive change. These exercises will not only change and improve your appearance, they will also help you get rid of constant pain in your joints and back. Age-related skeletal changes, such as arthrosis and spinal osteochondrosis, will be delayed, and you may even postpone your old age!

People with correct posture are happy. Whatever their circumstances, they know how important it is to keep their chin up!

Summary:

• Posture formation is connected with gravity, heredity, and daily physical loading.
• The state of posture depends on the physical and mental state of a person. And posture can influence the state of the body and the mind at the same time.
• Exercises for improving the posture diminish and eliminate chronic pain in the spine and back.