How Habits Sculpt Posture & Influence Pain
- Brainz Magazine
- Mar 27, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 28, 2024
Written by: Heidi Hadley, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
In my previous article, I discussed how our body is a reflection of our subconscious mind. To read my previous article, click here. In today’s article, we are going to develop from what I discussed previously.
The following well-known quote from Aristotle creates a great framework for this article and the following,
“We are the sum of our actions; therefore, our habits make all the difference.”
From the moment we wake in the morning to the moment we go to bed, we are a collection of patterns, rituals, and habits. These habits can be wonderful for our health and wellbeing, for instance regularly washing, brushing our teeth, exercising, and listening to empowering audiobooks and podcasts on our commute to work. However, we can develop disempowering habits which have a less beneficial effect on our health and wellbeing. For instance, not exercising, eating foods that don’t agree with our body and create inflammation, poor sleep routine, spending too many hours sitting at our workstation, inactivity and unaware of how the subtle unhealthy rituals are creating a layering of pain, limited mobility, poor posture, and shallow breathing.
Posture & back pain
In today’s article, let us consider a subject that impacts many people globally, their posture and specifically how they operate throughout the day to either support or hinder the quality of their posture.
Considering Aristotle’s quote earlier, we understand that our habits make all the difference. Therefore, with the increase of digital devices in our lives, we spend more time in a sedentary state than in previous generations.
The sedentary lifestyle creates poor posture, leading to back pain. Back pain is one of the most common causes of long-term disability in 65% of the countries globally. It has been estimated that the lifetime prevalence of lower back pain is between 30% and 80%.
A combination of repetitive movement, emotional challenges, injuries, poor work setup, and the lack of awareness of the posture and habits we are developing that cause pain and discomfort. Within Total Somatics, I teach people privately or within their businesses how to reduce pain, improve posture, increase mobility, and develop mindfulness of habits and rituals to prevent recurring symptoms.
Your brain is a pattern creator
You may have heard me use the expression “your brain is a pattern creator” in my previous articles or within my Podcast episodes, which you can watch on YouTube by clicking here.
Every moment of the day, your nervous system is collecting data and assessing the world around you. We are more subconscious than conscious, and many actions are created without us having to manage them, we are truly amazing!
However, our nervous system is so compliant, that it can begin to change aspects of ourmovement and posture if it notices over time that a large percentage of our day involves sitting or walking in a certain manner. For instance, if we work long hours at the computer, we will notice how the shape of our spine may adjust, creating a change in our posture. This can lead to changes in the depth and quality of our breathing. Muscle tension and pain will occur. It may also influence the actions within our abdominal region, due to a smaller amount of space for our internal organs to move and adjust throughout the day. Changes in our posture will create issues associated with our skeletal system and joint pain. Our body works in harmony with other systems, so if one area becomes dysregulated or dysfunctional, it has a ripple effect throughout the rest of the body.
A very common posture seen today and not just associated with adults sitting for hours at the workstation, is the slumped posture. Due to the increased use of digital devices for children, their young, beautiful postures are being impacted at an earlier age, creating back pain that was once only associated with older people. As Aristotle said, “our habits make all the difference” and in this case, the habits we are developing are contributing to changes in posture and increased pain.
Our nervous system is assessing and communicating to our muscular system to change muscle tension and tone. This regular habit has become the ‘new normal.’ These habits are creating changes on an emotional level too. The foetal or slumped posture that we may be developing is also a posture that occurs subconsciously in a stressful situation. For instance, many years ago, when our ancestors were walking the earth, their nervous system would react subconsciously and instantaneously to threats, and in service of survival, their brains would take them into a postural reflex to protect them from impending danger. One of the reflexes was to collapse into a foetal position to protect their vital organs and ‘play dead.’ The breathing would become incredibly shallow, eye movement would freeze, low energy, and digestion function would slow down. However, within a short period of time, once the predator had disappeared, our ancestors would regulate their nervous system with specific movements and continue on their way.
Nowadays, we still possess the same properties within our nervous system, however, many
people don’t know how to discharge their stress and regulate their nervous system. They will sit for large amounts of time, often slumping in a foetal style position, shallow breathing due to rigidity in and around their rib cage, ongoing emotional;/mental pressure and stress, plus staring at the monitor, causing their eye muscles to mimic the frozen state seen in the survival
response. However, their nervous system doesn’t know the difference between perceived and actual danger. So many of the emotional states of fear, overwhelm, anxiety and brain fog can occur which isn’t helped by dysfunctional breathing.
When you change the state of your body, you shift the state of your nervous system and your emotions. Within Total Somatics, I teach specific movements to release tense, tight muscles and regulate your nervous system. These movements create on a neurophysiological level, the same effects on our neuromuscular system as that of all vertebrae animals when they practice Pandiculation. To read my previous article about this specific process, click here.
Stretching muscles will not discharge tension and tightness from the muscles. It also won’t reintroduce muscle memory back into the body. To read my previous article on the science of Pandiculation and why stretching has its limitations, click here.
If you can recall from my description above, both in a stress response and working in a sedentary position for hours each day, create a freeze-like state in the body, locking down many of the muscles, and creating rigidity. By using the process of Pandiculation, you reintroduce muscle memory, when one side of the body contracts, the other side releases and lengthens. Until we reintroduce muscle memory back into the body, we continue to have contracted and stretched muscles, stuck, holding us in rigid bodies. When we use the process of pandiculation, communication between the brain and muscles returns.
When we become aware, can sense, and feel, then we can create changes and move intelligently and with ease.
In my next article, I will continue to develop further into the subject and consider another postural reflex that creates pain and discomfort and how we can identify the behaviours associated with this posture.
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Heidi Hadley, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Heidi Hadley is a Certified Clinical Somatic Educator & Somatic Movement teacher. She started her career in mainstream medicine in the field of Neurophysiology. In 2001, Heidi started her private clinical practice in health, wellbeing & movement. She is the founder & creator of Total Somatics International®, an online membership designed to reduce pain, improve posture, increase mobility, develop mindfulness and allow you to resume or continue with the activities you love to do. She is the presenter of the podcast, Somatic Movement & Mindset. Delving into the fields of neuroscience, pain, mindset, mindfulness, habits and how to use your brain and body to create lasting healthy changes.
