Healthy Posture

Vocabulary

anatomical position, healthy posture, ischemia, muscle memory, neutral pelvis, neutral spine, posture, sensory motor amnesia, standard anatomical position, standing in neutral

1. ANATOMICAL POSITION — In humans, defined as “standing up straight with the body at rest” (source)
2. HEALTHY POSTURE — A natural bearing of the body that includes a comfortably neutral spine and promotes healthy internal functioning and muscular efficiency
3. ISCHEMIA — Insufficient supply of blood to an organ (source); As it relates to posture, refers to the compression of blood vessels resulting from chronic muscular tension, causing pain and damage (source)
4. MUSCLE MEMORY — Movement or posture that has become automatic; a result of the nervous system shifting control and memory of a repeated pattern from areas of the brain responsible for making voluntary decisions to making them subconscious (source)
5. NEUTRAL PELVIS — A state of equal hip height, a neutral pelvic tilt, a neutral front-to-back placement and the pelvis is pointing straight ahead
6. NEUTRAL SPINE — A state in which the spinal curves are not too much or too little for the individual’s healthy norm
7. POSTURE — A collection of (typically unconscious) habits and holding patterns (which form our muscle memory) that create “an attitude of the body” or an “orientation to the present moment” which reinforces itself through bodily structures and physiology
8. SENSORY MOTOR AMNESIA — The natural way in which bodily movement and posture becomes “automatic and involuntary” leading to loss of sensation, a lack of awareness of the muscular pattern, and a temporary inability to relax tight muscles (source)
9. STANDARD ANATOMICAL POSITION — Standing up straight and facing forward with the arms by the sides and palms facing forward
10. STANDING IN NEUTRAL — Another way to describe anatomical position; refers to standing with the bones stacked vertically and the two sides of the body displaying symmetry

Defining Posture & Healthy Posture

The word “posture” is often used casually, without a shared understanding of what exactly we’re talking about. Even a yoga article with the word posture in the title vaguely refers to “standing tall” vs. standing “hunched over.” So, let’s begin by defining posture, exploring its vital role in our well-being, and identifying specific attributes of healthy posture.

What is It?

Drawing from the teachings of many sources, we can define posture as a  collection of (typically unconscious) habits and holding patterns (which form our muscle memory) that create “an attitude of the body” or an “orientation to the present moment” which reinforces itself through bodily structures and physiology.

Posture… You know it’s distinctive – you can easily and immediately recognize close friends just by how they move and how they hold their collection of arms, legs, torso, and head together – that configuration is as individual to them as their fingerprint. But is posture JUST a description of how someone stands and moves – just a math equation of angles, force, and mass?  Or does it go deeper than that? Mary Bond, author of The New Rules of Posture … says that posture is our “orientation to the present moment.”  It’s affected not only by our bones, muscles, and fascia, but by our thoughts, emotions, traumas, history, chemistry, family, work – by all those holding patterns developed over years of living and being on this gravity-endowed planet. – Heather Longoria