What is Postural training

What is Postural training?

The postural training is simply based on improving your posture with exercises. Having a good, relaxed posture, the pressure is distributed through the body in an optimal way. When the pressure is distributed in a optimal way, we usually do not have pain.

The postural muscles protects the joints from pressure and is therefore strategically placed as part of our innermost musculature. The postural musculature is also usually referred to as the postural chain as it is facially connected so it can work together from head to toe. This chain counteracts gravity from above and protects our joints from overload. They work statically and most of the time we do not notice them except when they no longer work. If problems occur with the postural muscles, the superfical muscles or your core, usually do the extra work and muscular imbalances are created. This is not to be confused with postural muscles in fysiotherapy. It is not the same and not the same way of thinking how the body interacts.

When we have a lot of muscular imbalances, the body must make a greater effort in movement and simply standing up, so we do not collapse under the pressure of gravity. We can then become tense, stiff and experience that it is difficult to relax. This can in time result pain or injuries. Among the most common problems today are back pain, which is often due to muscular imbalances.

Postural training history

Originally, postural therapy came from the United States and was created by Pete Egoscue, now known for The Egoscue Method. Pete was shot in the war in the rear and got chronic pain. When he could not find any help for his problem, he began to experiment himself and found that the solution was in the posture and balance. This is how Postural Therapy was born.

Markus Greus began his training as a Postural Therapist according to The Egoscue Method, in San Diego in 2001. He is from the beginning a Swedish physiotherapist who did not find the solution to his problems in physiotherapy. He then took postural therapy to Sweden where he further developed the techniques and eventually created the Optimum method. The Optimum method also includes various manual treatment techniques as well as a holistic view of human well-being. In 2017, he started an education in the Optimum method.

Now the therapy has spread more and more in Sweden. Some who have made a major contribution to the development of postural therapy are also Rasmus Svärd and Mattias Hallström. They introduced more neuromuscular theory models and manual muscle testing and also created a program for therapists with postural exercises. Physioscale.

Pete Egoscue

We are not just built of muscles and bones. We are more complicated than that. Your posture is a reflection of how you are feeling right now in combination with your history. Posture changes all the time with our feelings, thoughts, what we eat, how we breathe, what we drink, how we sleep, our teeth health, whether we hurt ourselves, whether we move or not move and how we move .

It changes according to internal and external factors. When we treat the body badly for a long time, we lose our posture, our ability to move decreases and we can get pain. What we do not use simply disappears. Below is a more detailed explanation of what can affect your posture divided into structural, biochemical, emotional and mental influences.

Structural

We are constantly exposed to pressure from gravity and the body must carry this so that we do not collapse. When the pressure is not distributed through the body properly, certain areas can become overloaded. Those areas compensate for less functional areas.

For example, an injured foot on the right side can eventually create pain in the hip on the left side. This due to change in weight of the body to the left side to not overload the injured foot on the right side.

The reason why we compensate can be due to many things such as previous old injuries movement, no movement, overload at work or training.

Belonging to our structural problems is also the lymfatic and blood system (our circular system), the neuro net and our fascia. Treating these are often a key to many "mysteries". All have to be considered and the body always have a priority on what goes first.

Biochemical

Our cells need water, oxygen and nutrients to survive. The lymph and blood are needed, among other things, to transport the waste away from the cells. Otherwise, there will be an unpleasant environment in our tissue. The body may feel sore and bloated. The work of cleansing and rebuilding the body takes place as efficiently as we sleep and move.

When we take care of our basic needs with sleep, food, water, heat and oxygenation, we often have a good immune system. However, if this does not work, it can worsen our health. This has a direct effect on our posture as, among other things, the muscles, fascia and nervous system become stressed.

When the body becomes stressed, there is often poorer communication in the body, the signals through the nervous system and the fascia that tells the muscles to work are not as clear, which can lead to compensation.

To be mentioned, many people today have stomach problems and with that biochemical imbalanses that should be adressed to optmize both posture and health.

Emotional

When we are stressed, we can feel pressure in the chest. Pressure is energy. The energy is overproduced so that we can save ourselves from a dangerous situation and should be released so that we can relax. When we don't let go of stress, which usually has an emotional origin, it can remain and affect us long after the thing that stressed us has happened. Unresolved traumas can still affect our behavior and our physical body. When animals become stressed, they often shake afterwards and release the pressure. We humans don't.

Mentaly

Negative thoughts affect us physically. Negative thought patterns can have a lasting effect on our posture if they are repeated often enough. We have long known that thoughts and feelings affect our posture even though we may not have reflected on it. In books when we describe
characters, we often describe body language.

By working with conscious observation, connecting the head and the heart with the rest of the body, we can help our inner development. We can create a peace within ourselves and handle life's adversities more easily. By observing our inner and outer surroundings, we can become aware of how and why we react in different ways in different situations. We can also reduce the emotional reaction that often accompanies memories and thoughts. When our emotional reaction is not as strong, it is easier to handle situations and reduce our inner stress.