How To Check Your Posture

How do you know if you have twists in your body and bones out of place that your body cannot self correct?

First of all take a photo of yourself from the side. Take your shoes off so they're not affecting your posture. Have the camera at waist level or so and take a snap shot so you get your head down to your feet. Take a front, side (doesn't matter which side) back and face view (The order is irrelevant). Before the picture is taken make sure you breathe in, breathe out and let your body relax. If it wants to slump just let it. Most people are shocked by how they look from the side especially because they're not used to looking at themselves from the side. Instead they're used to seeing the reversed image of their front view in the mirror. This is why we often don't like pictures of ourselves because they're not reversed like we're used to seeing in the mirror. I'll cover the significance of this in a few paragraphs.

So here's a list of things to quickly ask yourself:
Do you have to work at standing up straight? Now after hearing that did you just stand up straight or were you already there? Most people when they're relaxed and just hanging around are slumpy. They can stand up straight by contracting muscles which pops them up. If this is the case then you failed this test.

Do you find yourself with one or both feet turned out when you're standing around? I consistently see people with one or both feet turned out. If I'm talking with them I'll say, "Now don't move your feet, but look down". They see their foot or feet turned out to the side and they say, "Yea I always stand like that" If you ask them to put both feet forward it doesn't feel good so they want to turn the foot back out. This means you have some big twist in your body that is relieved by rotating your hip(s) outward - which make your feet looked turned out. The answer is not to work to keep your feet forward. Doing that will bother you elsewhere in your body because it just shifts the twist to some other area or areas of your body. It will also eventually cause even more twists and more twisting of the twists already there to handle the ones you are creating by trying to keep your feet pointed straight when they are crooked as part of a compensation pattern for something else. (If you are not getting the idea -- this is a bit more complicated than just, "Your foot sticks out sideways."

The answer is to get your body structure corrected. As you will see in the Bone Out of Place section, this is not something your body can correct by itself with exercise or doing maneuvers. Once you understand what is occurring it can most certainly be corrected without exercise or work on your part, but you cannot do it for your own body. Even I cannot correct mine and had to get someone else to help. Come into the office today and you will know you are in the right place starting with the first treatment. Call us at (608) 277-1975 to schedule an appointment which includes a history, exam, video to show you the changes and your first treatment.

From the front view do your shoulders roll forward? Or can you see a crease because your shoulders roll forward? This is because the first ribs are stuck forward and the correct leverage of the skeleton has been lost. The shoulders collapse and hang on the rest of the body rolling forward as the entire body collapses forward. Not only that, it is fairly easy to correct if your doctor understands the mechanism. The images to the right all show this problem. The same instructions are always given -- "Breath in, breath out and let your body relax." You might be thinking, "Well I'll just hold my shoulders back." Yes you can but you don't want to do this. Here's why. Forcing yourself upright is not healthy -- it is just different. Being upright with no effort is what is healthy, forcing your body upright is not. Dr. Aberle uses treatments that get your posture upright without you having to work at it... that is healthy. ABC gets your posture upright without you efforting...this is healthy. Call (608) 277-1975 and come into the office today. Before the end of the first visit your shoulders will not roll forward and you will know you have finally met a doctor who can make the changes on your body in minutes that everyone talks about making in months or years with tons of exercise and work on your part. There is no risk. If you do not notice and your pictures do not show your body upright it is no charge. The important part is that you will know we can make the changes to your body that you have always wanted and your posture will stay upright all by itself. Experiment: 1. While standing let your body relax. Then take in a deep breathe and notice how much air you can get into your lungs. Don't hold your breathe. Just notice how much air you can get in. 2. Now stand up tall, pull your shoulders back and force an upright posture. Now see how much air you can breath in. 3. If you haven't figured out which posture gets you more air then I'll show you in person. Hint: It's not what you think.

From the side view does your head jut forward? Does your body simply look straight? Or is it frumpy? This is the result of the body things I spoke about above and can be changed toward correction quickly with no exercise, no surgery and no drugs. Call us at (608) 277-1975 and you will know before you leave the office on that first visit that you have finally found the right place to get the help you need and want. Does your butt stick out further then the back most part of your body? This is an extreme version of your body really going forward. Your low back muscles are hard as rocks and parts of your body will hurt the more you stand. Again, though everything is not correctable in one visit, this is the result of the body things I spoke about above and can be changed toward correction quickly with no exercise, no surgery and no drugs. Does your belly stick out a lot more then you think extra weight can explain. When your lower back curve is more curved then it should be, your abdominal organs are pushed forward making you look like you have a gut when you don't (well hopefully). All the photos to the right show this problem. You'll see this in everyone now that you know what to look for. These people all had the same instructions. Breathe in, Breathe out and let your body relax.

Do you hurt anywhere?
Pain is from a compensation unless it's from some other problem like cancer, infection, fracture, torn tissue, a cut, etc. I can prove this very easily to people when I treat them. It is a deeply rooted belief that where we hurt is the problem and where treatment should be given. If you're reading this you've probably started to question that from the treatments you've already received from other types of therapy. You might get temporary relief but that's it. When I'm treating people they're amazed when they're neck hurts but it isn't until something moves in the lower back that their neck feels good. It's absolute proof to them that their problem isn't in their neck but elsewhere. NOTE: The bone that really needs to move usually doesn't even hurt so you never know there's a problem there. If you doubt this you'll simply have to see for yourself by getting treated. Call us at (608) 277-1975 to schedule an appointment.

Are your muscles hard or do they feel like leather or have knots in them?
If they do then you know your muscles are working like crazy to hold up your crooked frame. I've seen this in countless patients where their muscles are so extremely tight due to supporting crooked frames. But as I treat them and unwind their spines their muscles soften up. It's astonishing to them. Please remember I became a chiropractor because I hurt so much and my muscles were incredibly tight and felt like leather. My leg muscles are actually soft now. They're rock hard when I contract them, but they're soft when they're relaxed. This is healthy muscle. Muscles should never be hard when you're not specifically contracting them.

Is your chest collapsed? Are your ribs symmetrical from side to side?
I often see collapsed chests where you can see the upper part of the chest caving inward. This is far from normal. Common yes, normal no. The lady wearing black in the photos above really shows a collapsed chest. You have no idea how this compresses the heart and prevents good circulation.

Is your face symetrical?
Look in the mirror or a photo and check to see if your eyes are at the same level on your face. Is one eye socket lower then the other? Is one ear lower then the other? Are your teeth level. If not you have a big twist in your head. I see this all the time on people and it's due to having twists in the rest of your body. If your photo looks different then what you're used to seeing in the mirror look for asymmetry.

Does your posture look sloppy?
This should be apparent hopefully. We're talking about your relaxed posture. Not the posture you can hold up by using your muscles.

Also take a deep breathe in and out. Does your chest come up to take a deep breathe? If so your spinal curves aren't normal and your ribs can't pivot normally. Therefore you rely on muscles to try and lift your rib cage to get more air in. It doesn't work well but you try.

In addition another tell tale sign is if you're always pale. You see when your chest and ribs work properly, your heart can pump a lot of blood making your face and body always look tan. However, when your mechanics are messed up, your chest is collapsed and your heart can't expand fully with each stroke to suck in a lot of blood just before it contracts. I liken the heart to an aligators jaw. An alligator or crocidile has massive power to close the jaw but a few loops of tape around their jaw can prevent them from opening their jaw. The same goes for our heart. Unless there is space in the chest for the heart to elastically expand it won't suck in all the blood that it can so its output is severly decreased. Don't get me wrong, it still works just as hard, but its productivity for pumping blood is much much less and your whole body pays the price. A pale color is a clear sign there are problems.

To the trained eye there are lots of ways to take just a quick look at someone and know they have problems. If you have any of the above, you have twists in your body and a crooked frame as well. Call us at (608) 277-1975 and schedule an appointment right away. DO NOT WAIT!!!

In a more condensed list here are signs of postural distortions?
Postural Checks - Chest, Shoulders, Belly, Butt, Feet Splay, Knock Knees, Bowed Knees, Facial Distortions - Eyes, Ears unlevel, Teeth uneven. Muscle imbalances, Obvious distortions in your spine, Divits in your spine when someone runs their hand down your spine. Tight muscles in traps, legs, ITB, Quads, arms, basically anywhere. Numbness/Tingling and nerve symptoms. Pain anywhere as long as it's not due to obvious medical issues like cancer, fractures, infections or the like.