Posture. Did your mom always tell you to stand straight, don’t slouch? I hear stories back in the day of nuns at catholic schools hitting your knuckles with a ruler if you were found slouching. That may be a bit severe but according to the Wall Street Journal(WSJ) your mother and those nuns were not far off the mark. The article is titled “How Bad Sitting Posture at Work Leads to Bad Standing Posture All the Time.” In it the author states “There’s growing evidence for the health benefits of good posture, from reducing back and joint pain to boosting mood.” Mom, the nuns, and the WSJ have it close, but not quite right. The entire article focuses on posture, or how you look. While how you look may be important, what is most important is how you work. Let me explain.
When it comes to discussing your body there are two major ways of having this discussion. First we can talk about structure, or what things look like, the anatomy. In the case of your spine; the bones, cartilage, ligaments, muscles, tendons, discs, nerves, blood vessels, etc. Second, and much more important for this discussion, is function, or how things work. In my 300,000 patient visits I have seen many young people with spines that look great, but work lousy. Conversely, I have seen many older patients whose spines looked horrible, but we were able to get working pretty good. And most of my patients have heard me at some point talk about my own lumbar spine, which has 3 herniated discs but works really well, thanks to my chiropractors. But when I was disabled those 3 times, it didn’t work so well then. And keep in mind that the first time I was disabled from my spine was at the age of 10, at which time it probably looked pretty good. Structure versus function.
The WSJ goes on to review various methods to improve posture, how you look, and to reinforce the importance of doing so. Keep in mind that the intended audience for this article is people working in cubicles needing practical advice on how to feel better. “Think about posture while walking, getting up out of a chair or using a cellphone or tablet.” “Roll your chest up and forward. Sit tall through the top of the head.” “Stretch the pectoral muscles and strengthen the trapezius muscles in the upper back, which hold the shoulder blades back.” Things like that. They quote orthopedic surgeon Allston Stubbs, “We see the spine and overall skeletal structure being critical to a patient’s functionality and their satisfaction with their life and health care.”
Structure is important, no doubt, but it is how your structure works, function, that determines the health of your spine, which directly relates to your overall health, your mobility, your mood, and your satisfaction. So while I agree that we should all be working on improving our posture, more important still is improving how our spine functions, how it works. You cannot measure how your spine works by how straight you stand, or how ergonomic your work station is. We have to use the same tools I used to measure your spine in the first place; your range of motion and your Total Subluxation Value (TSV) which measures inflammation and nerve stress. These two measurements, when combined with any known complicating factors tell us how your spine works, and, therefore, are the best tools to measure your spine as it begins to work better while using the Lindwall 3-Tool Method: 1) Adjustments, 2) Disc Pump Exercises, 3) Deep Tissue Therapy.
When it comes to discussing your body there are two major ways of having this discussion. First we can talk about structure, or what things look like, the anatomy. In the case of your spine; the bones, cartilage, ligaments, muscles, tendons, discs, nerves, blood vessels, etc. Second, and much more important for this discussion, is function, or how things work. In my 300,000 patient visits I have seen many young people with spines that look great, but work lousy. Conversely, I have seen many older patients whose spines looked horrible, but we were able to get working pretty good. And most of my patients have heard me at some point talk about my own lumbar spine, which has 3 herniated discs but works really well, thanks to my chiropractors. But when I was disabled those 3 times, it didn’t work so well then. And keep in mind that the first time I was disabled from my spine was at the age of 10, at which time it probably looked pretty good. Structure versus function.
The WSJ goes on to review various methods to improve posture, how you look, and to reinforce the importance of doing so. Keep in mind that the intended audience for this article is people working in cubicles needing practical advice on how to feel better. “Think about posture while walking, getting up out of a chair or using a cellphone or tablet.” “Roll your chest up and forward. Sit tall through the top of the head.” “Stretch the pectoral muscles and strengthen the trapezius muscles in the upper back, which hold the shoulder blades back.” Things like that. They quote orthopedic surgeon Allston Stubbs, “We see the spine and overall skeletal structure being critical to a patient’s functionality and their satisfaction with their life and health care.”
Structure is important, no doubt, but it is how your structure works, function, that determines the health of your spine, which directly relates to your overall health, your mobility, your mood, and your satisfaction. So while I agree that we should all be working on improving our posture, more important still is improving how our spine functions, how it works. You cannot measure how your spine works by how straight you stand, or how ergonomic your work station is. We have to use the same tools I used to measure your spine in the first place; your range of motion and your Total Subluxation Value (TSV) which measures inflammation and nerve stress. These two measurements, when combined with any known complicating factors tell us how your spine works, and, therefore, are the best tools to measure your spine as it begins to work better while using the Lindwall 3-Tool Method: 1) Adjustments, 2) Disc Pump Exercises, 3) Deep Tissue Therapy.