From the Ground Up Athletic Performance Podcast Dr. Sam Lauman Episode 61 " Posture, Nonverbal Communication, Upper body posture examination and considerations"
On Episode 61, I sat down with Dr. Samuel Lauman. We begin our discussion by sharing some of the important ideas and terms that are heavily associated with the term posture. Posture can relate to a given position while standing, sitting, or laying down. One of the early distinctions that Dr. Lauman shares is that posture in most instances is simply a snap shot. Static posture assessment and positions are snap shots in time and positions and shapes may vary under the dynamic requirements of more fluid and chaotic situations. Gravity is unavoidable and an important factor that needs consideration when focusing on posture. Our body is naturally influenced by gravity and more dynamic means will make this interaction with gravity an even more important consideration. When looking at a given posture, it can either make a person larger or smaller, when thinking about this we can see the clear tie to psychological ramifications of certain postural choices. Early in the conversation we also talk about how more upright postures verses hunched or smaller postures will have different ramifications for bodily systems such as the respiratory, circulatory, or digestive systems.
The two postural issues that much of the conversation centers on are FHP and RSP. We discuss how Scapular issues may be tied into downstream areas such as the pelvis. As Dr. Lauman shares some of the different discrepancies that are created in reference to cervical pressure due to forward head positions, one can begin to make connections to inhibited or weakened areas of the body due to excessive differences in load bearing requirements. For example at 0 degrees of forward protrusion one can expect 10-12 lbs of pressure on the cervical spine. This varies wildly from 60 degrees of forward protrusion, which places around 60 lbs of pressure on the cervical region of an individual.
Semantics and word choice can be sticky and many times we see the terms over or under "active" or tight or slack utilized when describing the actions of different muscles or muscle groups. We discuss some of the commonalities that may fit with these expressions, research does appear to support many different tensional patterns for the above referenced head postures. Therefore, there is some format of tensional patterning that is associated with different postural positions. There are psychological and emotional components that are closely linked to posture, if our normal posture is less than optimal how will our posture hold up during times of stress and fatigue? What do you communicate with your posture? You can see many of these nonverbal cues during games, think about when a team is on 10-0 run look at their bench compared to the team that just gave up 10 unanswered points. The environment and player involvement is completely different. We go on to discuss how posture can help inform training selections, Distal to proximal and proximal to distal actions and more to end out the conversation. Posture is important shapes determine expression. I like to think of locomotion as a puzzle, our posture can take on many different shapes under fluid and dynamic circumstances. Posture can be a big determinant of if we have the right pieces to solve the movement puzzle.
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