Wisconsin's Natural Health Guide |
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OH NO!
DO I LOOK LIKE MY GRANDMA?
BY JACQUELINE LARSEN
I was standing in front of my full length mirror this morning
gettingdressed to start the day. As I inspected my attire, I gasped!
Do I look like Grandma Irene? Could I be a little shorter than I was 10
years ago? At 5’2”, shrinking just does not work for me. So I slowly
turned to get that side profile.
Well look at my posture! I am slumped forward and my ears look like they
have moved three inches in front of my shoulders.
Gravity is not a friendly word as we age, but I never thought about my
spine.
Throughout the everyday grind of life, we get into bad habits and in
terms of our posture; we will age faster than our grandparents if we are
not aware of proper alignment.
It is a matter of sitting at our computers, driving our cars, or
performing our daily living activities in the correct posture that will
restore our stability patterns and straighten us up!
Be aware! How does your foot hit the ground? Proper arch control
dictates a lot of what happens up the chain of posture. The first
metatarsal or the inside ball of your foot, the fifth metatarsal or the
outside ball of your foot, and your heel should all form a solid contact
with the ground while
you are in standing or seated posture. This positioning sends a signal
up the rest of the chain telling your lower leg, upper leg, hips, and
core muscles to turn on and stabilize the spine in the way that we are
meant to be stabilized. This positioning of the foot will make the
postural alignment taller and give you the appearance that you actually
grew. All you did was straighten out the spine to a more neutral
position that opposed gravity more effectively and helped you decrease
your overall pain. It brought your ear back, your shoulder back, and
your hip back, so it has become more in a line with your ankle.
How about strong gluts? These are the famous butt muscles that we all
sit on and abuse throughout the day. It is very hard for these muscles
to work when you are sitting on them. In a standing posture by just
placing your hips slightly behind your heel, you turn your gluts on. So
when you are talking to a friend or just standing talking on the phone
at work, make it a point to have proper foot placement but also to have
your hips slightly positioned behind the heel. Your gluts will become
stronger, which will stabilize your pelvis, which will then in turn give
your spine a good foundation to lie upon and a better looking butt!
Thirdly, core strengthening is an important aspect so the spine is able
to maintain its neutral position and able to achieve stability against
the opposing forces of gravity. Core is a word that is used very loosely
today.
Most individuals consider core anything that has to do with their abs.
The fact of the matter is that you can do all of the crunches you want
until you are blue in the face, but you may not be training the
appropriate muscles in order to achieve the stability that we are
looking for.
The muscles of the core work as a system. They are endurance muscles and
need to be trained this way. Muscles like to work as a team not as
individuals. The proper team of muscles in your core helps stabilize
your low back. Stability of your low back equals less low back pain.
When the lumbar spine is stabilized, so is the thoracic and cervical.
Stability at the core stabilizes the low back which then brings the
shoulder in line with the hip, and the ear in line with the shoulder.
This position allows us to oppose gravity most efficiently and not walk
around like a hunchback.
The more stable you are, the better you will feel. The better you feel,
the better your quality of life. Here’s to becoming the best no matter
what the age.
Here’s to looking at ya, Grandma!
Jacqueline Larsen
Fitnessology, Inc. 920-430-1348
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