
Brain-Based Neurology and Posture is the part of treatment for so many conditions that we fail to look at because we are too focused on the immediate area of pain.
If you are a desk worker, a weekend warrior, an active person, or a professional athlete, the mechanism through which the body works is the same. Attending your brain with posture in mind is a must in order to not only be pain-free but avoiding repeated injuries and setbacks. Your movement is like a concert orchestrated by your brain if not done right, this concert is as if you walk into the concert hall with the musicians tuning their instrument.
Understanding Brain Based Neurology and Posture
Your brain is a command center and controls and manages everything in your body based on what you throw at it. In order to answer this question let’s learn a couple of terms:
- There is a Biological patterns of posture and movement which is how your muscles, tendons, joints and whole body was designed initially when you were born assuming there were no genetic disorders for those parts.
- Then there is a Pathological patterns of posture and movement which is the changes that happen with movement and posture as a result of your lifestyle, needs and wants!
- Neurplasticity is the negative response of your brain and your nerves to negative stimuli or a positive response of your brain and your nerves to positive stimuli.
Let’s explain this in more detail: When it comes to muscles, joints, tendons and soft tissues in general, every part has at least a main “job” and many “side jobs” it is intended to come in and help with.
Am I a Candidate for Therapy
Do you sit at your desk every day at work? At work, after a couple of hours of staring at your computer posture declines by you slouching. Slouching wins over sitting up straight since that is the posture you hold the most. This means the part of your brain that says ‘upright and against gravity’ to your body does not get to win because your lifestyle of sitting and staring at your desktop continues daily. This is when the negative neuroplasticity happens. The ‘upright and against gravity’ signal from the brain to the body keeps lessening and lessening until that part of the brain (middle portion of the brain called PMRF) starts shrinking. It does this because why hold on to something if you don’t use it as much! This is why when you want to sit up straight, you can’t hold that position for long. If all this makes sense and you can relate you may be a candidate for therapy.
Back to the slouch posture with shoulders rolled forward, the head being forward as just a part of this scenario, let’s try to slouch and then take a deep breath in!! It is not possible right? You need to sit up straight!!! So imagine going through your day with low oxygen. Less oxygen means everything in your body, from hormones to mood to energy are impacted. This has nothing to do with looks, has everything to do with your health, mood and your life.
With the slouch example and forward neck and shoulder now you go to the gym because you want to do something healthy just to hurt yourself and injure your back, shoulder and neck and have a set back in being active.
Treatment:
At Irvine Spine & Wellness Center we start with establishing and then strengthening the pelvic floor muscles and diaphragm for the biological pattern of breathing and for establishing a strong midline (axial line). At the same time, the weak brain parts that were identified from the initial exam, are strategically activated (Positive Neuroplasticity) and the result from each session is recorded. At the time of your re-examination, the previously positive tests are re-done and the postural imaging is updated and compared to the previous one.
Look at each session as a practice for a big upcoming concert!
You are meant to move and most of your routine aches and pains stem from your lifestyle. Brain-based Neurology and Posture, puts an end to the guessing game of what the right treatment for your condition is. It puts an end in trying all different types of treatment from medication, to physical therapy to chiropractic and acupuncture to the worst case scenario, surgery.
Movement is health and your health is determined by how well your brain functions. When it comes to posture and movement, the source of most of the ‘routine’ aches and pains, there is no more guess game. Stop procrastinating and start living the active way.