PROPER POSTURE and SECURE THE SPINE

13+ LOW BACK INJURIES, 2 while in chiropractic school. The first left me in bed for 6 weeks unable to stand or walk. I know back pain very well, we have an amazing relationship now!!! Why??? Because I learned the “cause”, for me, and the “solutions”, for me.”

Proper posture in all of your daily movements mean more than you think. Imagine taking approximately 6,000 steps a day with 1” shorter stride on one side. What will that do to your spine??? What will that do to the muscles of the low back??? Abdominal wall??? Arm stride??? Muscle lengths globally??? Hmmm, do you think proper posture and biomechanics help??? Am I setting myself up to be “compromised” for injury??? These are all great questions!!! Let’s dig into this posture thing more!!!

When I was visiting my good friend Vi Ly, DC in 2009 in Monterey Park, the owner of the chiropractic clinic Dr Vi was working at, Dr. Matt Chang, DC said to me “Hey doc, aren’t you embarassed by your forward head carriage???” I was absolutely blown away by that question!! I had been receiving care from what I considered the best of chiropractors, but with an open mind, I said, please expand on that thought!! So, he asked if he could take a lateral cervical spine xray, of which responded sure. Lo and behold, there it was, an objective finding of a straight neck, with a slight reverse lordotic neck!! What in the world is that?!?! So, with his recommendations of doing specific neck postural exercises, along with being absolutely mindful of having proper neck posture all of the time, my posture journey began. I was to not fall asleep on my back anymore with a pillow, because it forced my head forward. I was also to have my neck xrayed again in exactly 90 days. Guess what happened on day 90??? You got it!! I received a lateral cervical xray, and what did it objectively show??? A beautiful lordotic cervical xray, and I didn’t even receive an adjustment during that 90 days!! His goal was to show me that proper postural awareness and specific exercises can make a huge difference, if applied appropriately, and he was correct!! What a blessing to have met him and learned such a powerful lesson.

First story has to do with my low back injuries. I’ve sustained more than 13 low back injuries, the first one I incurred while playing volleyball, and I was bedridden for about 3 months. I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t walk, I was miserable. I was 19 years old. Physical Therapy and Chiropractic did help along the years of injuries, but what made one of the largest impacts to the strength of my low back was learning about eating better. I was visiting Timothy Francis, DC DIBAK for my first visit in Las Vegas in 1999, and he mentioned to me that two of the challenges I was facing with my low back was an Ileocecal Valve Problem and an Imbalanced TMJ. He gave me several recommendations to “clean up” my diet, which I thought at the time was pretty decent, so I thought…and wow, what a difference did that make!!

The second part to solving my lower back challenges came from receiving NET, and it was “DEEP”!!! There’s a couple of topics in Applied Kinesiology, called “Emotional Low Back” and “Limbic Fixation”. I’d say both of those definitely applied to me as I had some deep seeded emotions that my body hadn’t fully processed, which was causing me to “fixated” on specific emotions and triggers. Once those were corrected accordingly, another side of healthcare had been addressed.

The third part to solving my low back challenges came from strengthening my “lower abdominal wall” doing “pelvic tilts” and holding that position whenever possible. Immediately upon doing my first pelvic tilt, I felt a slight stretch in my low back, which showed I was hyperlordotic to begin with, xrays to prove it too. So, over time, my positive Ferguson’s Line on a lateral lumbar xray, shifted to a healthy Ferguson’s Line, again, with only strengthening the lower abdominal wall. I was already doing 350 upper crunches daily at the time because I was taught to reduce my lower back pain, I was to have a strong abdominal wall. Little did I know that I needed to develop the lower abdominal wall. So, with the help of my “Dad of Chiropractic, Mike Kilbride, DC” in San Diego, the journey of securing my low back began. He had me hold that pelvic tilt, well, from now on as long as I was awake.

So now with my cervical spine and lower back secure, all that was needed was to secure my mid-thoracics and I learned to do that with strengthening up my upper back muscles both with resistance training and body weight for endurance.

This has all culminated into what it means, to me, to “Secure Your Spine” utilizing postural muscles and training your body to have muscle memory in maintaining proper positions. Remember this phrase, which I use daily with patients: “It’s not THAT you sit, it’s HOW you sit. It’s not THAT you stand at work, it’s HOW you stand at work. It’s not THAT you lift at the gym, it’s HOW you lift at the gym. It’s not THAT you lean over preparing food, it’s HOW you lean over preparing food. It’s not THAT you ____, it’s HOW you _____”. Understand the point??? It’s my job to address these positions with my patients, and by sharing some of these ideas with you, I hope it can benefit you too.

The last topic I need to address is STRENGTH. Having STRENGTH doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be BUFF!!! Observe most Navy SEALs, do they all look like The Rock??? Most do not, but they are ridiculously STRONG. The criteria I use in my office when we’re doing Physio Therapy with patients is to be able to do the following without pausing:

100 pushups

20 pullups

100 squats

20 body weight back pulls directly under the anchor (utilizing TRX-type cables)

Most people do not start out at these numbers, but they do realize them if/when they put in the hard work to strengthen their bodies. But it all starts with YOU. It all starts with A Decision. I believe it’s Tony Robbins who said “You’re always one decision away from success.” Having strength is a part of health care. So if you’re lacking strength, make the decision, not for your patients’ benefit only, but for you…GET STRONGER!!

And if you’re already there…then I hope these videos will help your eyes see something that your patients may be unknowingly doing that’s causing their aches and pains.

Remember, if/when you decide to get stronger, healthier, eat better, lose fat, build muscle…it’s FOR YOU. Everyone else just gets to benefit!! =)