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About Postural Restoration

by Susan Henning

INTRODUCTION

Postural Restoration evolved as a study of human biomechanics. This revolutionary approach to healing is holistic and integrative. Clinically proven and evidence based, Postural restoration provides tools to evaluate underlying cause of pain, dysfunction and slow recovery from trauma. Treatment using Postural Restoration therapeutic activities has produced dramatic relief from chronic as well as acute conditions. These therapeutic activities reposition the musculoskeletal system, correct movement imbalance, restore normal tonicity to muscles and strengthen efficient, balanced, functional activity. Postural Restoration empowers you to maintain your optimal health and vitality in daily life and sports, and helps avoid injury.

ASYMMETRY

Postural Restoration recognizes that humans are, by design, asymmetrical. Asymmetry facilitates our movement. Organ placement contributes to asymmetry. In the lower trunk the large, heavy liver is situated on the right while a smaller lighter spleen is in a similar location on the left. Our right lung has three lobes, the left has only two, to accommodate the heart in our left upper trunk. The right diaphragm is larger and better positioned for respiration than the left diaphragm. Muscle attachments of the diaphragm to the ribs are thicker on the right. The right and left hemispheres of our brain govern different functions.

The majority of people worldwide are right handed. Our man made environment accommodates, even facilitates right hand reach activity. The muscles which make up our right dominant movement patterns are used much more frequently and become much stronger than the same muscles of the non dominant pattern. Even if you are left handed you must live in a right handed world.

Consequently, we all have the tendency to stand on our right leg and to reach with our right arm. This reaching results in upper trunk rotation to the left. Consider how you open a door, reach for your cup, brush your teeth. Often, people who are left handed for fine motor activity use the right hand for power functions such as throwing. This dominant patterning is most useful! We don’t have to pause to consider which hand we will use to open the door. The pattern facilitates automatic activity, making life a bit simpler. Athletes thrive by strengthening powerful asymmetrical patterns. The downside of asymmetry is that our lifestyle – often sedentary and/or filled with repetitive motion – reinforces our pattern so much that we can no longer move out of it. We lose the ability to balance our movement i.e.: to shift into our left hip and reach with the left hand. Although we walk with both legs, our center of gravity stays over the right hip. Although we have two lungs, we rely on the right. This one sided imbalance in activities that require alternate, reciprocal movement – such as walking and breathing – often results in abnormal stress, unequal wear and tear, dysfunction and pain.

3 DIMENSIONAL

We are also 3 dimensional beings! We have a front to back dimension, a side to side dimension and a transverse or rotational dimension which we recognize in diagonal movements. For instance, we rarely reach straight forward or out to the side; instead our movement occurs at various angles.

As three-dimensional and asymmetrical beings, the spine orients to the right and we stand on the right leg. The upper trunk rotates back to the left in order to face straight ahead. In so doing right side bending occurs bringing the right ribs a bit closer to the right pelvis and the left ribs a bit further away from the left pelvis. In this position the right trunk muscles shorten and tighten, the left stretch and lengthen. The left abdominals thereby lose their ability to anchor the left lower ribs and the left pelvic crest. The left pelvis rolls forward and inward, the left ribcage elevates and flares. The lumbar spine is pulled into extension with this loss of position on the left and the adaptive shortening and tightening of the right trunk muscles.

In a front to back plane or dimension (sagittal) there is excessive tightness of the back and overstretch of the abdominal region. In a side to side plane or dimension (frontal), there is excessive approximation of the right side structures and excessive stretch of the left side structures.

BREATHING

In this three-dimensional asymmetrical configuration the diaphragm becomes overstretched. It begins to function as a postural muscle rather than as a respiratory muscle. Without efficient function of our primary low energy breathing system, i.e. the diaphragm, we must rely on our auxillary back up system – the muscles of the neck – to get enough air. Usually reserved for higher oxygen demand – as when we are running a marathon – the neck muscles become overactive, unable to relax. This activity triggers the sympathetic nervous system, that is our fight or flight, high alert system. In a constant state of stress, we are restless, unable to relax, unable to sleep deeply. We live, so to speak, on the razor’s edge.

In this vulnerable state it does not take much to push us over the edge – whether physical injury or environmental, emotional or mental stress.

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT

Often when we experience physical pain or dysfunction, we wait for it to pass. Sometimes it will. But, if our symptoms persist and begin to interfere with our life, it catches our attention and we begin to search for a means of resolution. Postural Restoration has much to offer.

The Postural Restoration therapist initiates a process of rehabilitation that begins with repositioning. Repositioning therapeutic activities are carefully constructed exercises which restore neutral alignment to the musculoskeletal system. Results can be immediate or may take several sessions to achieve. Repositioning exercises incorporate breathing techniques to restore normal respiration. Repositioning exercises also teach the person how to feel the activation of targeted muscles.

Once neutral alignment is achieved, it must be maintained and integrated into the movement patterns we use in daily life activities. A personalized exercise program progresses strengthening from lying to sitting to standing to moving.

Often, the aches and pains and movement limitations previously experienced were the result of being stuck in an asymmetrical pattern. These pains drop away as more balanced, more efficient and less stressful muscle activity is restored. True pathology, such as joint breakdown, muscle tears and adhesions and ligament strains become evident and appropriate treatment can be more accurately determined and applied. Postural Restoration techniques create a more balanced, less stressed physical foundation for life activities, sports activities and for rehabilitation following trauma or surgery. These techniques empower you to self maintain your optimum function and to enjoy life more.