When our patients come to Care for Health having a rounded upper back or a slouched spine there are two possible reasons for this:
1. The person actually has a structural change to the shape of the bones perhaps from a congenital defect or a severe injury.
2. The person has a functional change in their spine shape that has gradually occurred over time usually in response to an excess of sitting and an excess of digital device usage together with a lack of sufficient and correct movement.
The obvious part of this posture change is the way it looks:
- Our shoulders get rounded and we are slouched.
- Our head juts forward (Chicken Neck).
- Our lower back straightens or even rounds forward also.
From a brain perspective what happens with this posture is that the balance between the part of your brain that pulls you forward Vs the part of the brain that pulls you back gets distorted. The pull forward dominates the pull backwards. Hence the shape of this poor posture pattern.
Gravity will naturally pull you forward so in order to resist gravity and have great postural fitness and postural shape we need the part of the brain that pulls you forward to be inhibited (Turned Down) and the part of the brain the pulls you backwards to be stimulated (Turned Up).
The good news is that to stimulate and inhibit the necessary parts of the brain requires the same type of exercises. The exercises are simple to do and can be done at home and by anyone. For specific guidance on this if you are interested or if you know someone needs help with this tell them to book in by calling us at 01483 425544.