BodyWise: Live Better in Your Body

Sorry folks, your mother was right, you’ve got to sit up straight. Michael and Nikki are amazed Every. Single. Day. by how a few millimeters variance in body positioning can mean the difference between living in agony or being pain-free. Truly, MILLIMETERS!

Everything in our lives is working against good posture: from the fact we evolved from four-legs, our beginnings in the fetal position, and now our modern computer and smart-phone based lifestyles. It’s so easy to spend your days hunched down and caved in.

But all that hunching over will wreak havoc on your back, shoulders, and neck!

Our bodies are designed to be in balance, with the front and back muscles working together to keep us upright, but when we constantly hunch over and throw off that balance our bodies get mad…and that anger manifests as pain.

Erik Dalton, a leading bodywork and pain specialist, gives one of the easiest explanations for why we experience so much pain: our heads literally get heavier on our necks as the protrude forward when we hunch. They go from weighing about 8 lbs to weighing as much as 42 lbs!

Think about that: muscles and supporting structures that were designed to carry around an eight pound load are now carrying around 42 pounds! Of course they are going to get mad and give you pain.

But fear not, you can undo a lot (if not all) of the damage – and prevent it from reoccurring.

The first step, like with making any change, is awareness. Find three times a day – maybe in the morning and evening while you are brushing your teeth, and then once in the afternoon just before you leave for lunch – when you can do a “check-in” with yourself and observe your posture:

> Where are your shoulders? Are they up by your ears? Put them down.
> Where is your head? Is it protruding out over your chest? Push it back.
> How about your shoulders? Are they rounded forward? Do a nice big shoulder roll and set them back.

As you continue to make these check-ins a part of your daily routine, you will begin noticing that your posture will be more correct more of the time…and as a result we’ll bet dollars to donuts you’ll be experiencing less pain too.

WE GOTTA SAY IT:

Of course we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the vitally important (ba dum, ba!) role massage and bodywork play in helping loosen up the tight-from-hunching chest muscles and working out the knots and trigger points that develop from the overworked and overstretched back/neck/shoulder muscles.

Both Michael and Nikki specialize in working with our clients to realign their bodies and put the parts back where they belong so you can live better in your body - whether it’s being more productive at the office, running that extra mile, or recovering from that injury.

Schedule your personalized bodywork session right now at www.TheVitalBody.com!