Posture: The physical and psychological effects

I spend a lot of time at work educating my patients on the importance of good posture, when it comes to the physical symptoms that they may be experiencing in the hands and arms. I remember in 3rd grade, my teacher constantly reminding me to sit up straight, when doing my work at my desk. Posture played an important roll, not only to prevent physical issues in the neck, back, arms/hands and even down the legs, but it also represented how you feel about yourself, as well as how others perceived you.

My good friend, Aaron Parnell, who runs Reposturing, at the Vitality Center

in San Mateo, is an expert of posturing and how to improve it. check out his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/aaron.parnell.754?hc_location=ufi

and his videos on the Reposturing page as well... https://www.facebook.com/reposturing/?eid=ARBuMXK0UxG8cishQygX2BfxflI16n0jdOa8bs0occ8DtKRtkysFzR1j6BEROW4ShQ9A90CecDUJY6lT&timeline_context_item_type=intro_card_work&timeline_context_item_source=1128983533&fref=tag

He has written several books on the subject... the two of my favorites are, The Reposturing Handbook and the newest one is called The Slouching Superhero's Guide to Achieving Great Posture. (both you can get on Amazon)

One of his recent live videos was on this very topic. Who you are, as a person, no matter what race you are, will come across through your posturing. Good posture shows competence, confidence, control, authority, and skill. If you want to make a good first impression on others, whether it is for a job, meeting new people, what ever it may be, you will come across better with good posture than with poor posture. The way you present yourself will have others looking at you differently and listening to you differently, depending on if you are slouching or you are standing/sitting with good posture. However, some different cultures may make assumptions of a person with good posture as being "superior". Aaron stated that somehow, when we make ourselves lower than other people, we can't just think that in our head. We act it out in our bodies.

In general, though, when you are standing or sitting in poor posture, your body may be shouting "I don't feel good about myself, everyone is better than me, other people deserve more." . The body has a certain posture that tells the brain and mind what and how you feel about yourself. It is sort of self sabotaging behavior.

This concept reminded me of a patient I had in the mid 90's. He was about late 30's, very tall, maybe 6' 4", average build, African American young man, He was coming to therapy because he was having symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both hands. As I evaluated him, I found him very kind and had a good sense of humor. He was a supervisor of a department at a local Biotech company, where he was in charge of about 10-15 people under him. What struck me RIGHT AWAY, was that he had HORRIBLE posture. Very forward/rounded shoulders and head forward. After I did the general evaluation, I said something to him that seemed to blow him away...... not remembering my exact words, but this is close....I said to him..."Now I don't mean to offend you by asking you this question, but I noticed that your posture is pretty bad and this might be causing a lot of your symptoms. As a tall African American young man, who is managing others below you, do you feel you need to slouch in order to make your colleagues feel you are more at their level? " He looked at me and said "wow, how did you know? " I told him his posture was pretty bad and that because of this he may feel he needed to lower his "physical" stature so that his colleagues wouldn't feel somewhat threatened by his tallness. I told him to try and be proud of his tallness, as I could tell he was a very intelligent and kind individual, and that his colleagues knew him for who he was as a person and as their manager. After I gave him a home exercise program to assist him with changing the tightness in his chest/shoulders/ neck and arms, encouraging him to think tall and proud, plus also giving him ergonomic education, he came for his next appointment stating that all of the symptoms he was having in his arms and hands were gone and he feels so much better. He also stated that several of his colleagues noticed that he looked different but wasn't sure why... funny isn't. He also stated he did feel more confident in his job and how he related to his coworkers.

My concern today is looking at the YOUNG people and how technology is ruining their posture, even as early as 2 years old. I cringe when one of my patients comes in with their 2-3 year old, and the child is looking at a tablet or the Iphone on their lap. I immediately correct this posture and educate the patient on how to help their child have good posture in their life, by starting them off with good habits when they are using their electronic devices. I see kids as young as 8 years old, having arm and hand issues, numbness in their hands, because of poor posture. This is something I do want to address with the schools, when I retire, to see if educating children early on will assist with decreasing these postural issue, down the line. here are a few pictures I found. If you look at them.... what would you think your first impression would be if you meet someone with good posture vs bad posture. Think about it.

If you saw the first person, what you would you first think.... Lazy?

Second person.... confident?

same as above... what would you think?

What do you think is happening to this poor girls neck and the nerves that pass through it to the hands? I see this EVERY DAY!!!! plus she is texting with her thumbs... NOT GOOD.