Postural Assessment Dysfunction

Postural Assessment Dysfunction

What is Good Posture?

Posture is the position in which you hold your body when you are moving or stationary. Posture is attained as a result of the coordinated action of different muscle groups working to maintain stability. Good posture involves training the body to sit, lie, walk and stand in positions where the least strain is placed on supporting muscles and ligaments.

Posture Assessment

In an ideal posture, the line of gravity should pass through specific points of the body from your head to toe. Specifically, we must look at:

• Head alignment
• Cervical (Neck), Thoracic (Upper back) and Lumbar (Lower back) curvature
• Shoulder level symmetry
• Pelvic symmetry
• Hip, knee and ankle joints

Some examples of faulty postures include: Forward head posture, Lordotic posture, Flat back posture, Sway back posture and Postural scoliosis.

Posture Tips

To achieve good posture, you need to have:

• Good Muscle Endurance - Poor endurance is often a contributing factor in habitual poor posture.
• Good Muscle Strength - To help assist you into the correct posture.
• Normal Muscle Length – Tight muscles will have to be addressed to attain a normal posture.
• Normal Joint Range of Motion – Stiff spinal joints will have to be addressed to achieve good posture alignment.
• Good Spatial Awareness – This is about knowing the position of your body in space. This is where your physiotherapist can provide you with visual and verbal strategies to assist you in achieving good spatial awareness.

Here at Think Physio, our physiotherapists are well-trained to assess your posture and diagnose the underlying factors contributing to your poor posture. With this, we can come up with a treatment plan that will allow you to achieve a good posture to reduce the pain you are potentially experiencing. This plan could involve hands on treatment, therapeutic modalities, taping, exercises to stretch and/or strengthen the muscles, as well as exercises to increase your joint range of motion.

For more information on the conditions we treat and services we offer, or to book an appointment please call (03)9790 4266 or email: [email protected]