Have you ever been told that your posture isn’t normal? Or you might be out of alignment? Keep reading…
What is a normal posture? Is there such thing as a normal posture?
To start, the spine is split into 5 sections; cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacrum and coccyx.
As pictured, we have a few different postures (they're all called slightly different things depending on where you go);
- ‘Normal Posture’
- Kyphosis/Kyphotic – excessive curvature in the thoracic spine.
- Lordosis/Lordotic – excessive curvature in the cervical or lumbar spine.
- Scoliosis/Scoliotic – spine snakes to the side.
- Flat Back – a lack of the curves.
- Sway Back – an anterior tilt of the pelvis causing weight distribution to be positioned towards the front of the feet.
Let’s break down the common misconceptions:
Kyphosis
Split into three different types.
- Postural: More prone in teenagers, is flexible and doesn’t usually cause pain or problems.
- Scheuermann’s: Often becoming apparent during the teenage years, it can result in a more severe deformity, it causes a rigid not flexible curve, changing position won’t change the curve.
- Congenital: Present from birth, it commonly occurs as a result of the spinal column failing to develop properly, meaning that the bones may not form correctly or some may be fused together.
Due to the increased curvature, scapula positioning can be altered to a more protracted position. Individuals can be more prone to particular muscular imbalances such as increased tension within the shoulder muscles like the pectoralis major, pectoralis minor and subclavius.
With higher loads being put through the thoracic spine, there can be an association with a forward positioning of the head due to the contraction of the levator scapular and upper trapezius muscles resulting in weakness of the deep neck muscles.
Lordosis
This is where there’s an excessive inward curve within the lumbar or cervical spine.
A few facts about lumbar lordosis:
- There is a high association with spondylolysis (a stress fracture at the pars interarticularis of the lumbar vertebrae, the thin bony segment joining two vertebrae).
- There is a higher prominence in women.
- Many studies have suggested a correlation between lumbar lordosis, pelvic tilt angle and abdominal muscular function.
Basically, there’s a link between hip instability and weakness in the abdominal muscles, particularly as most individuals suffering with lumbar lordosis have an anterior pelvic tilt.
There’s also been a link with the lower erector spinae muscles and compensatory mechanisms as an adaptation overtime. However – there’s not enough evidence to say whether these muscles produce enough strength to balance excessive lumbar lordosis.
The thing is, very few of us have a ‘normal posture’. Every single body is built completely differently.
As therapists, we see hundreds of patients and each one is unique.
It may be that your posture is causing you problems (if so, come to us and we can help you), but most of the time you won’t be realise.
Remember too that there are so many factors contributing to postural problems; age, gender, height and occupation being a few of the key ones.
If you think that you’d benefit from a postural assessment then book in and we can help break it down for you.
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