Good Posture, Rule Number 1 for Good Health
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Dr Chris’ Rules of Health
Rule 1: Good Posture for Good Health
“To live a long, active, energetic life, few things matter more than good posture” Rene Cailliet, MD (The Rejuvenation Strategy)
“…the more mechanically distorted a person is, the less energy is available for thinking, metabolism, and healing.” Nobel Laureate Dr. Roger Sperry,
That’s right, rule number one is “Keep good posture at all times”.
Remember when you were a child and your mother told you to stand up straight? You probably sighed ‘yes mum’ silently to yourself, stood upright for a few minutes then forgot about it until the next time she reminded you.
Doctors, chiropractors, Pilates instructors, yoga teachers, even your spouse may have informed you of your bad posture. Right now you are probably slouching as you read this…. and are now hopefully straightening up again for at least a few moments!
The problem is none of them have told you why good posture is so good for you- i.e what are the health benefits of good posture. Yes it looks better than a slouchy swayed back lazy posture, and yes you are less likely to get aches and pains in your neck, back and shoulders, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Doctors Related Poor Health to Poor Posture Over 100 Years Ago
Around the turn of the 18th/19th century two doctors examined the bodies of hundreds of people and came to the conclusion that poor posture is a major cause of death. ‘How?’ you may well ask. Well the theory was that as you slouched forwards this restricted rib movement. This in turn decreases lung capacity and squashes the heart – causing lung and heart damage. Your stomach and intestines also get cramped by your lower ribs as you curl forwards. When the neck cranes forwards this compresses the arteries and veins to and from the brain, leading to deceases oxygenation and nutrients for the brain – not good!
(NB: I remember reading about these two doctors some years ago, but have been unable to find the original paper. I think the doctors may have been American, but they may have been French. If anyone who reads this knows the original research please share it with me!)
Rule Number 1 for Good Health:- It’s All In the Nerves
We know mechanically that the above makes sense, but just how much that corresponds to premature death we don’t know, but there’s more… Another doctor, professor Winsor, performed more extensive autopsies in the 1920’s, this time looking at the relationship between the spine and internal organ disease.
Each level of the spine has nerves exiting from it that go to various internal organs. For instance nerves from the top of the back go to your heart, near the middle they go to your stomach, and in the lower back to the intestines. What the professor found was that disease in an organ was directly related to arthritis in the corresponding level of the spine.
The “Winsor Autopsies” as they are known is often cited by chiropractors and osteopaths as proof that spinal problems can cause internal disease. The conventional medical world generally ignores these important findings and dismisses them by saying the organ disease could be causing the arthritis.
Though it could be true either way, the general medical acceptance is that arthritis is caused by mechanical wear and tear, so it seems more likely the arthritis aggravates the internal organs.
Nobel Prize Winners Relate Good Posture and Good Health
After Winsor, came Alf Brieg MD, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on the postural effects on the spinal cord. Brieg discovered that mechanical tension on the spinal cord due to poor posture caused damage in the sensitive neural tissue, in his words:
“Loss of the cervical curve stretches the spinal cord 5-7 cm and causes Disease.”
Now we’ve looked at the mechanical effects of poor posture, it’s time to reveal where the really big problems may lie – the neurology of posture, or how posture affects the brain, your thinking and healing abilities.
Nobel Prize winner, Roger Sperry demonstrated that 90% of the energy output of the brain is used in relating the physical body to gravity. Only 10% has to do with thinking, metabolism, and healing. This is an absolutely huge discovery and means that bad postural habits, such as forward head posture, literally rob your brain of energy for your thinking, metabolism, and immune function to deal with abnormal gravity/posture relationships and processing.
This explains why people can have increased energy and decreased appetite after chiropractic adjustments.
As so much of the brain is given over to postural related activity it makes sense to ensure not only our good posture, but to ensure children are taught about it too.
I’ll leave this topic for now with a quote from the American Journal of Pain Management:
“Posture effects and moderates every physiologic function from breathing to hormonal production. Spinal pain, headache, mood, blood pressure, pulse, and lung capacity are among the most easily influenced by posture” , AJPM,1994;4: p36-39.
Some other posts that may be of interest to you:
The Importance of Movement
Spinal Hygiene Exercises
So Live Long and Prosper,
by remebering the number 1 rule for good health: good posture
Dr Chris
How to be Healthy
Free Reports From Finchley Chiropractic Clinic
Related Posts:
Rule of Health No.2 – Move
Natural Pain Relief