Correct Posture with Postural Therapy

Most chronic pain treatment plans only try to mask your symptoms and cover the pain. At Texas Spine and Sports Therapy, we use postural therapy. Postural therapy corrects your posture issues which can cause pain, discomfort, and prevent you from living your life to the fullest. If you’ve tried everything in the book and nothing is helping, consider postural therapy.

What is Postural Therapy?

Postural therapy, also known as the Egoscue Method, focuses on treating the root causes of your symptoms. Here at Texas Spine and Sports Therapy, we have an Egoscue certified Postural Alignment Specialist practicing postural therapy.

Postural therapy is a holistic-based therapy that uses a patient’s own body weight and to help improve the spine’s alignment and balance of the body. This technique centers around the idea that our bodies have eight load-bearing joints. These joints are found in the shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles. When they’re not lined up, the body can’t function to its fullest potential.

Breaking Muscle explains that the human body was designed to stand on two feet, and needs to be able to constantly move to survive. They say, “the combination of gravity and movement is not only necessary to maintain the body’s skeletal alignment, but also critical for survival.” 

However, in our current society, we don’t have to move constantly in order to make ends meet, eat, and more. Rather, many people have desk jobs which can cause a whole new problem to our spines and postures. 

Signs of Bad Posture 

Our posture shows how we hold our bodies. Whether it’s you standing up straight or sitting down slouched over, it all has to do with how our bodies are being held up. When our postures aren’t aligned properly, it can cause a person to feel symptoms throughout the entire body. U.S. News and World Report lists the signs and symptoms a person might experience if their posture is off. Those symptoms can be:

• Fast-tracking arthritis
• Poor circulation
• Fatigue 
• Mood issues
• Head misaligned, leaning forward 
• Jaw pain
• Breathing problems
• Headaches 
• Shoulder and back pain
• Sexual dysfunction

Risks of Bad Posture

Along with the long list of pain-causing symptoms, bad posture can have many risks to your overall health. Bad posture tends to come along as we age, which means our bodies are more susceptible to sustaining damage. Over time, risks of poor posture according to Better Health Channel can be:

• Slow or fast twitching muscles. The skeletal muscle has two kinds of muscle fibers. These are static, which is the slow twitch, and phasic, which is the fast twitch. These fibers are deep-rooted in the muscles, and work to maintain our posture without too much effort. Static fibers can work for longer periods of time, while phasic fibers tire out quickly. If you have poor posture, your tired muscles signal the phasic fibers rather than static to hold you up, which can cause pain and other unwanted symptoms. 
• Losing muscle strength and length. As time progresses, poor posture can cause muscles that aren’t used regularly to deteriorate. These weak muscles can tighten and shorten, which can compact the spine and make posture even worse. 
• Affecting nervous system feedback. Layers deep down in the muscle focus on sensing your body’s position within space and relays this information to your brain. As time goes on, poor posture can cause the body to not send the full picture to the brain. Your brain can continue to assume that the body should be propped up to fight gravity, which means it’ll begin to contract the muscles. If not needed, this can cause pain and fatigue. 

Benefits of Postural Therapy

This technique has many benefits to help align the spine. First, it uses your own body to improve mobility and release pain. When looking for pain relief, you need to find the true source of the pain and not just mask the symptoms. 

When you mask the symptoms, they will always come back. This is especially true with drug-based therapies. However, with postural therapy, you could find pain relief at the source and alleviate your need for painkillers. 

Make an Appointment for Postural Therapy

If you believe your back, shoulder, or other bodily pains are caused due to improper posture, make an appointment to try postural therapy today. At Texas Spine and Sports Therapy Center here in Austin, our team of professionals offers a variety of holistic healthcare treatments. With a wide range of services in one office, we’re able to find the treatment method that will best suit you and your pain relief needs.