Posture is the position you maintain while standing, sitting or lying down.
Good posture means your body position creates the minimum amount of strain on supporting muscles and ligaments during daily activities and weight bearing exercise. Maintaining good posture allows musculoskeletal balance; this helps to protect the joints and spine from excessive stress, and makes us look taller and slimmer. Many people have poor posture despite having a good diet and taking regular exercise, and this can create future health problems if left uncorrected.
Pilates is a technique that approaches the fitness of the body, working to improve strength, mobility and alignment. Instructor Amanda Richard focuses on the body’s “core strength”, which comes from muscles that lie from the pelvis to the ribcage and diaphragm. These muscles work to maintain posture and support the spinal column and pelvis.
Good Posture through Pilates:
l Reduces risk of back and neck pain
l Reduces risk of wearing of bones
l Reduces the risk of painful diseases like arthritis.
l Improves flexibility and co-ordination
l Reduces fatigue
l Aids concentration
l Improves appearance, self esteem , confidence
l Improves sleep
Osteopath Fred Carson says that good posture also removes stress from our internal organs, allowing blood, lymph and nerve supplies to flow more smoothly, improving many aspects of our general health. Our posture often reflects our internal condition, so good posture can also be a sign of a healthy body, mind and spirit.
An important part of osteopathic diagnosis and treatment is to examine a patient’s posture and evaluate how much this contributes to their symptoms. Poor posture can cause or aggravate a myriad of problems, such as headache, joint, neck and back pain, sciatica, general nerve pain, fatigue and stress. An osteopath particularly focuses on the muscles and joints of the spine. Then, using a combination of massage, gentle manipulation and stretching techniques, he or she helps to bring the function of these various tissues back to normal, improving posture and reducing pain and discomfort. In addition, exercises and postural advice are often given to help with ongoing, long term relief of symptoms.
Angela Herdman, Bowen therapist for nine years, explains: “Poor posture in our daily lives can lead to all sorts of problems, whether it is from compensating through injury or from general working environments. Bowen can help alleviate some of these by re-aligning and rebalancing the body by working on muscle, tendons, ligaments and some nerves, alleviating back pain, sciatica, knee/ankle problems, planter fasciitis, neck pain, frozen shoulder and fibromyalgia to name but a few. Often the problem that is presented is not actually where it originates from, but the body has formed a compensation pattern.”
Angela added: “Bowen is different from any other therapy in that it addresses every organ and system in the body and often one session can lead to exceptional results, even long standing problems may be resolved in three to four sessions making it great value for money.”