Resolve to Improve Your Posture in 2009
Still looking for an easy New Year’s resolution? One that can improve your health, transforms your body image, and doesn’t require a strict diet or long hours in the gym? Take a look at your posture. We’ve all had someone remind us to sit up straight, but have you ever really thought about what posture is and why it’s important to maintain correct posture?
When most of us think about posture, we are referring to upright posture, which is the normal standing posture for humans. It is the cumulative position of all the joints in our body during stance. Posture is often expressed as being correct or faulty (poor). When viewed from the side, correct ideal postural alignment is a straight line that passes through the earlobe, to the tip of the shoulder, through the lumbar vertebrae, slightly behind the hip joint, just behind the knee cap, and through the outside ankle bone. Correct posture allows for efficient accommodation of gravity, reduces the strain through our joints and supporting ligaments, and provides an environment for muscle groups to work together with minimal effort. Correct posture improves body image. Take a look at some of the before and after pictures of people who have participated in some of the popular diets or the newest appetite suppression drink. One thing in common with all the “after” pictures is that the person is standing with correct posture.
Rehabilitation and the Aging Osteoporotic Spine
Osteoporosis is a common bone-thinning disease involving the loss of bone density, mass, and structural form in the major supporting bones of our skeleton (femur, pelvis, and spine). As bone density and mass becomes flushed out by osteoporosis, the bones become brittle and the risk of fracture and additional functional deficit increases significantly. This affliction of the aging spine is more common in females than males, and it is estimated that one out of every two women and one in four men over 50 will have an osteoporosis fracture in their lifetime.1 The loss of bone density and the potential fractures associated with osteoporosis can have a major effect on how we are able to perform once easy daily tasks. Everyday activities such as getting up from a chair, walking, and even turning in bed can become extremely painful and debilitating.
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