Posture

Here at our practice BodyLab | osteopathy and Physiotherapy | Rehabilitation and Training in Zurich Altstetten, we often hear people say: “My posture isn't good. And because of my poor posture, I have neck, shoulder, and back pain. I try to pay attention to my posture, but it still doesn't help much. What should I do instead?”

How does our posture develop?

Your posture is controlled by proprioception, a feedback system for perceiving movement and your body’s position in space. This is mainly governed by deep sensitivity (proprioceptors) and the vestibular organs.

• In your joints, there are receptors that report the position and/or movement of your joints to your brain.

• Your eyes allow you to anticipate shifts in your center of gravity so you can react with appropriate muscle activity and stay upright. When you close them, you sway more.

• In the inner ear are your balance organs, which are equipped with receptors. These give you a sense of your body position (upright, lying down, etc.) in space. When you experience dizziness, this feedback is disrupted.

These three systems complement each other and send information to the motor cortex in your brain to trigger a desired muscular reaction. The motor cortex responds with signals to your muscles so you can assume the necessary posture through contraction.

Is posture an active process?

Fundamentally, posture can be seen as an active process. By contracting muscles, your joints are brought into the desired position to ensure optimal biomechanics during movement or holding positions. In addition, posture can be active when you straighten up or tilt your pelvis. However, this would require continuous conscious activity; otherwise, you would fall over. But since you are also busy with other things in daily life, your posture is controlled unconsciously. This means your muscles remain under constant slight tension and react to shifts in your center of gravity. When you stretch your back or pull your shoulders back every now and then while working, it does relieve static posture, but it doesn't have a lasting effect on your overall body posture.

How can you improve your posture?

The basic requirement for improving your posture is the optimal functionality of your entire musculoskeletal system. This includes joint mobility and muscle strength. If, for example, your ankle or pelvis isn't 100% freely mobile, building good posture becomes much harder because the biomechanics are compromised. You also need efficient muscle development. On the one hand, muscles can be too weak (because you sit for 8 hours a day), they can be asymmetrically developed (because you move only one-sidedly), or they can be tight and shortened.

To improve your posture, you need:

• optimal functioning of your body without biomechanical restrictions, a.k.a. joint mobility

• an efficient muscular system, a.k.a. strength

• optimal muscle length, a.k.a. flexibility

A ballerina, for instance, doesn't need to pay attention to her posture anymore. She has optimal biomechanics, flexibility, and a strong muscular system. She has simply programmed it directly into her joints. Knowing this proves and can motivate you that good posture is a matter of practice and can definitely be learned. Through regular joint treatment combined with specific stretching exercises and targeted muscle building, you can permanently optimize your posture. This, in turn, has a positive effect on physical Conditions and pain, helping you get them under control.

You can find more on this on our neck pain page.

Whenever you need us, we're here for you!

Your BodyLab team, your partner for an upright, resilient posture

osteopathy and Physiotherapy | Rehabilitation and Training

Zurich Altstetten