Posture - the position of the body
So the clocks have changed and Spring is around the corner! Lighter evenings and more time to exercise!!
Are you all feeling focused this week...have you banked some decent activity so far? There’s still plenty of time to get up and get moving. There’s still a chance to concentrate on eating a bit better and drinking a bit more water too...you know you can always do a bit better.
Today’s Topic:
Many of you will know I ventured up to Bath a couple of weeks ago to attend an advanced posture analysis and correction course. It was incredibly interesting and very intense. I’m now perfecting my own analysis plan and hoping to implement the new methods I have learnt into our training sessions very soon.
Posture can be defined as the attitude or the position of the body and it should fulfill three functions:
It must maintain alignment of the body’s segments in any position; supine, prone, sitting, on all fours and standing.
It must anticipate change to allow engagement in voluntary, goal directed movements such as reaching and stepping
It must react to unexpected perturbations or disturbances in balance.
Posture is an active as well as purely static state. It is vital for balance and control of the body when motionless as well as during a wide variety of different types of human motion. To ensure long term health of the spine and joints of the body optimal postural position should be sought for at all times when holding static positions (sitting, standing) but also during movement and activity.
This is much easier said than done as our postural position is mostly under our subconscious control. If optimal posture and posture control is to be encouraged during exercise performance then principles of good static posture must be fully appreciated. Once this is understood poor posture can be identified and corrective strategies adopted.
Good posture is the state of muscular and skeletal balance that protects the supporting structures of the body against injury or progressive deformity irrespective of attitude (e.g. lying, sitting, stooping) in which these structures are working or resting.
Poor posture is a faulty relationship of the various parts of the body, which produces increased strain on the supporting structures and in which there is less effective balance of the body over its base of support.
There are three common primary postural deviations in relation to the spine when viewing the body from the side; a flat back, a hollow back and a sway back position.
There are many different factors that can contribute towards faulty static and dynamic posture. Some reasons include physical trauma, deformity or faulty loading patterns.
It’s important to understand that the whole body is essentially linked throughout the kinetic chain and as such a postural deviation at the foot or ankle could have an impact upon the position of a body part almost anywhere else.
Fitness Fact of the week:
Squirt some freshly squeezed lemon into a cold glass of water first thing in the morning. It’s a great way to start the day off right by stimulating bile and removing toxins from your body. It also helps with fat loss by breaking down adipose tissue.
Quote of the week:
Train because you love your body, not because you hate your body
Keep active & see you soon
Rosie
