Growing Taller Guide » Posture

What Does Swayback Have To Do With Elvis And Michael Jackson?

Blake — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 09:29:25 +0000

You may be familiar with swayback from observing horses. It’s a condition where the back of the horse is “scooped” instead of muscular and almost flat. Have you seen this in horses?

Just as the swayback occurs in horses, it can also occur in humans. And if you imagined that the horse could walk and then looked at its swayback spine, the spine would look similar to how it looks in humans

Humans have natural curves in their spine and vertebral column. These natural curves allow for maximum range of motion and movement in many directions.

One of these natural curves is in the neck, another is in the thoracic area, and another one is in the lumbar or lower back region.

The natural curve in the neck is similar to the curve in the lower back; it’s a C-shaped curve. The natural curve in the mid spine is the opposite direction of the cervical and lumbar curves.

When a person has swayback, the lumbar curve is exaggerated. It’s called hyperlordosis. When you stand against a wall, you should be able to put your hand between the wall and the small of your back. This is normal.

But in swayback, you can put more than your hand between the wall and the small of your back.

Swayback Treatment

Swayback can cause pain and often, those with swayback are told to take anti-inflammatory drugs to decrease their pain, but there are other things to do for swayback treatment.

For example, chiropractors have discovered that one of the causes of hyperlordosis is tight low back muscles.

When any muscle or set of muscles pulls on the body in one direction, the body becomes out of alignment. The task then is to loosen the tight muscles and strengthen the weak muscles.

Once this task is accomplished, the swayback may be alleviated or remedied.

One of the first steps in relieving swayback pain is to correct the position of the pelvis. The muscles in the lower back wouldn’t be tight if the pelvis wasn’t tipped forward.

To determine the position of the pelvis, it’s based on the angle formed by the top of the pelvic bones.

The Elvis Wiggle And Michael Jackson Moves

Sometimes it’s difficult for people to understand what it means to tip the pelvis forward or backwards. Do you remember how Elvis used to move his hips around?

That act of moving his hips involves moving the pelvis forward, to the right, backwards, and to the left. When he moved his pelvis backwards, it simulates a motion during intercourse. Do you know what I mean?

Here’s another way to understand that motion. Think of Michael Jackson.

He was famous for moving his pelvis backwards as well, and some people were offended by the motion because to them it reminded them of what happens during sex.

But just because a person doesn’t like what it looks like to have a posterior pelvis, this doesn’t mean it’s smart to leave the pelvis stuck in an anterior position.

Belly Dancers and Gymnasts Move Their Pelvis, Too

Belly dancers are also famous for their ability to move their pelvis, too.

Mimicking their moves is an excellent way to regain the motion in the pelvic region. Watch a belly dancer on YouTube and you’ll see how she moves the pelvis in all four directions as well.

Olympic gymnasts often put their pelvis in a posterior position. You can see a swayback in their routines.

They mesmerize crowds with their ability to move their pelvis – and body in amazing somersaults, headstands, balancing feats and movements on the rings and parallel bars.

Lack Of Range Of Motion Is Never Good

When the pelvis is stuck in a forward position, that’s when swayback occurs.

This position tightens the lower back muscles. Keeping the position in this position for extended periods of time results in pain because the range of motion isn’t occurring.

Whenever you have limited motion in any part of the body, there will be pain. Many body aches and pains respond simply to movement!

It’s the muscles of the thighs that cause the rocking motion of the pelvis backwards and forwards. This means that exercises like back extensions and leg presses are important to those with hyperlordosis.

In fact, you could view hyperlordosis as a posture problem. Thus, improving posture is a big key in alleviating swayback.

Posture Exercises Are A Big Key In Swayback Treatment

A chiropractor can best determine what muscles need to be strengthened in hyperlordosis. But if you don’t have access to a chiropractor yet, then starting with simple and basic posture exercises is the way to go.

One excellent place to start is the ebook, Perfect Posture Program. In this book you’ll find a whole exercise routine that can help you strengthen the muscles to tip the pelvis back to its original position.

You’ll have to try it out and see for yourself what type of improvement you can get.

Don’t Let Disc Herniations Shorten Your Height

Blake — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:19:44 +0000

When you have a disc herniation, you feel miserable and all you can think about is who can provide you with pain-relieving disc herniation treatment!

Often, someone with disc herniation has poor posture and can’t straighten up. Other people look at someone in this predicament and may think that the person needs to improve posture.

But with a herniation the person has poor posture because the body is protecting against further damage to the injured disk.

The time to improve posture was BEFORE the injury, not right after the injury.

Later on in the recovery – a few weeks or months later – it will again be time to improve posture. The thing most important right now is treatment!

Treating Disc Injury Is Your Choice Of What To Do First

Disc herniation treatments come in two basic varieties:

Medical
Chiropractic

And the difference between them is immense.

Medical disc herniation treatment won’t start until several diagnostic techniques such as MRI scans, x-rays, EMG tests, and of course, the standard medical examination which involves a medical history and orthopedic tests are completed.

The treatment will involve painkillers (sometimes addictive ones), bed rest, injections, and if you don’t improve, additional tests or surgery will be the answer.

Chiropractic Disc Herniation Treatment

Chiropractic disc herniation treatment includes:

Medical history
Orthopedic tests
Review of all the findings from your medical tests

Then, depending on the type of disc herniation treatment that the chiropractor has in his office, your path to wellness begins.

Many chiropractors have several different modalities that are used to get you out of pain and are a substitute for painkillers.

Some of these include:

Ultrasound
Electrotherapy for muscle stimulation or healing
Hot and cold packs
Even cold lasers for stimulation of tissues in recovery
Spinal manipulation

Latest Chiropractic Treatments Are Drugless Healing Methods

Some chiropractors are certified in a vertebral distraction method that manually separates the two vertebrae that surround the herniated disc.

With this method, the repetitive motion creates a vacuum that pulls the herniated disc back into the spinal cord where it belongs.

Other chiropractors have one of the latest decompression equipment that allows you to lie down on a treating table and the machine gently pulls and straightens your spine.

During this procedure, the disc may become “sucked” back into the spinal canal. After one to four treatments, patients often feel a rapid reduction of disc herniation symptoms.

A chiropractor won’t prescribe you any painkillers, and certainly not addictive ones, but will focus on treating the cause of your disc herniation.

What got you to the point where the disc ruptured? Was it:

● poor diet that caused degenerative changes in the disc

● poor posture

● poor posture, such as slumping at work or incorrect lifting and bending

● dehydration which causes the disc to shrivel up since it needs a lot of water to stay plumped up and spongy to absorb the forces of sitting and standing and other motions

● emotional causes

● or something else, such as a rare tumor in or near the disc

Disc Herniation Is A Quick Way To Lose Height

When a disc herniates, it is already in a state of collapse.

This state of collapse cuts down your height! Take a 5’10” man and give him a few herniated discs and you can expect him to no longer enjoy the advantages of being tall anymore.

What To Do To Prevent Disc Herniation From Robbing You Of Your Height

The solution is to heal from this present herniated disc and then commit to improve your posture BEFORE the next disc herniates.

Since many people have not nourished their discs for quite some time before the herniation, it’s safe to say that there are other discs waiting to herniated.

Once that right moment occurs with the right amount of compression forces from bending and twisting, another disc can herniate.

Don’t let it happen.

You must interrupt the process as soon as possible. For one disc it may have been too late, but for the others, there is hope.

Here is a list of what should be done minimally to stop the process:

● Feed all the connective tissue in your body – muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones – with a vitamin and mineral-rich diet and supplements

● Exercises to improve posture

● Exercises specific for your condition

You see, many people always do nothing until a disc herniates and then they act as if they are a victim. “Oh, it was the twisting that got me!” is what they say.

But this isn’t true.

A healthy disc wouldn’t rupture spontaneously just because you twisted unexpectedly. An unhealthy disc will rupture, though.

The trick is to get them all in such a hydrated, and well-nourished mode that they have no reason to herniate.

And when you know what postural positions put extra stress on the discs, you also know how not to harm them during the process where you are building them.

By the way, an excellent informative ebook on improving posture is called Perfect Posture Program. It will get you started in the right direction.

Avoid Posture Problems And Osteoporosis If You Want To Stand Tall

Blake — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 09:30:49 +0000

Are you past the age of 40 and have noticed that you have to adjust the rear view mirror in the car now more often or that you seem to be sitting lower in the car when you drive?

This is an indication that you may be shrinking in height or have posture problems! Could it be osteoporosis? Find out here in this article.

If you measure your height and find that you have indeed lost an inch or two in height, it’s time to see your doctor – one of two things may be the cause:

1. Poor Posture: Daily Habits Matter!

Slumping and standing or sitting incorrectly. These are common positions that force your shoulders to round forward, close down the chest area and shut down your total lung capacity, and make you feel like the world is taking a toll on you.

2. Osteoporosis: Poor Diet, Lack Of Exercise, And Poor Posture!

This is a bone disease where the bones did not receive enough calcium and minerals and have started to collapse and fracture. It’s a common health affliction that affects both men and women in their later years.

But don’t let the disease fool you – it can also occur in women who had a hysterectomy at an early age.

How Does Poor Posture Contribute To Shrinking In Height?

The way that poor posture decreases your height is that when you slump forward, your back starts making an angle less than 90 degrees to your legs.

Now think about this in an extreme situation first. If you slumped so far down that your head rested on your thighs, what would your height be?

It would be equal to the height measured from your feet to a little above your waist. That’s a decrease of probably close to 24 inches in most people!

Now let’s say that you slumped forward about half the way down to the position where your head rested on your thighs. What would your height be? You would probably lose about 12 inches in height!

Cut that distance is half again, where your body is now at about a quarter of the 90 degree angle that it should be at, and you lost 6 inches!

Wow! That’s a lot of loss in height just from slouching! You can see now that sitting up straight and standing up straight – and improving your posture – is the key to standing tall in life!

But What About Osteoporosis? I Can’t Help It If I Have This Disease!

You can certainly prevent osteoporosis and reverse it. Thousands of people already have. You’ll learn about that later.

Osteoporosis, or porous bones, makes you susceptible to your vertebrae fracturing. Once they fracture, they collapse.

What Happens To The Vertebrae When Osteoporosis Occurs

A good strong vertebrae is wedge-shaped. But with a fracture, that wedge will either:

collapse in on itself to look like a pancake
collapse on only one side.

When either one of these occur, the problems begin.

When it collapses like a pancake, now the muscles, tendons, and ligaments are in a state of stress. They must compensate but don’t know how to do it quickly.

There’s a lot of pain with a fractured vertebrae. Simultaneously, you lose at least ½ inch in height just from the vertebral collapse.

When the vertebrae collapses on only one side, then there’s a new angle in your spine that didn’t exist before. In a healthy spine, the vertebrae are stacked on top of each other like blocks stacked on top of blocks.

Of course, in a spine, there are some additional curves, but for the most part, the vertebrae are stacked in a line.

What would happen if you took a hammer and knocked out the edge of one of the middle cement blocks that were stacked on top of each other with no mortar?

The blocks on top would start to collapse and fall. If Humpty Dumpty was sitting on top of the blocks, he would fall down.

Something similar happens with your spine. When a vertebral body collapses into a wedge, the others lose their support as well.

When this happens, you can’t improve your posture even if you wanted to and committed to osteoporosis exercises daily. Certainly the osteoporosis exercises would help the rest of your bones, but not particularly the fractured one.

And of course, your height suffers just like in the case where you were slumping at your desk.

It’s not a pretty sight – until the medical doctors do expensive and painful back surgery and insert a fake wedge into the area of your vertebrae to hold up the rest of the spine.

Osteoporosis Treatment

In cases where the vertebrae collapses unevenly, surgery is the answer. But it’s not the whole answer.

Unless you want more vertebrae to collapse, you must do your part to build up the rest of the bones in your vertebral column and in your entire skeleton.

In osteoporosis, many vitamins and minerals are lacking, not just calcium!

Here’s a list of just some of the nutrients you will need:

Calcium
Magnesium
Vitamin D
Vitamin C
Silica
Manganese
Strontium

Warning: Doctors Don’t Tell You This!

And that’s just the start! If you are eating three meals a day right now, you can’t possibly eat another three to supply an extra portion of the vitamins and minerals you need to recalcify a skeleton. You must take supplements.

What the medical doctors don’t tell you is that you need all the nutrients, not just calcium and vitamin D. If you don’t have all of them, the process of re-calcification won’t occur as it should and there will be problems healing.

One Key Missing Element For Osteoporosis

Many people with osteoporosis lack strontium, a mineral needed for good bone health. This type of strontium isn’t the same as the radioactive strontium you hear about on the news because a nuclear reactor melted down.

There’s a difference between radioactive strontium and non-radioactive strontium. Radioactive strontium destroys the bones whereas non-radioactive strontium builds the bones.

That’s why smart health practitioners advise strontium for osteoporosis if a person is low in it. And research studies show that strontium for osteoporosis can be very helpful!

There are close to 500 research studies on strontium for osteoporosis in the medical literature of the National Health Institutes online database called Pub Med.

The reason why adding strontium for osteoporosis works is that it inhibits the bone cells that break down the bone from working so the bone building cells can finally do their work.

In some cases, the war between the bone building and bone breakdown cells has been occurring for over a year, resulting in people suffering because their bones won’t heal.

Strontium for osteoporosis can work – if a person needs the element.

Don’t Forget Posture Improvement Exercises!

And when it comes to osteoporosis treatment, don’t forget the osteoporosis exercises needed to improve posture.

You may want to take a good look at the ebook, Perfect Posture Program. It will give you great insight into how to exercise to improve your posture.

These Posture Problems, Including Uneven Hips, Can Make You Shorter!

Blake — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:24:53 +0000

If you have any posture problems, you know that they are always accompanied by discomfort, pain and even swelling and inflammation in the body.

They interfere with the quality of your life by preventing you from becoming more active and enjoying the simple things in life.

Every Part Of The Body Is Interrelated

As amazing as the body is in its design and functions, one little thing that goes wrong can set off a whole chain of events in the body that quickly leads to dysfunction.

The only built-in protection from body degeneration is the maintenance you put into your body on a daily basis.

One major part of that maintenance is simply doing things that promote good posture, and stopping any movement that can contribute to poor posture.

Causes Of Poor Posture That Interfere With You Getting Taller

Poor posture is caused from many things:

Poor muscle tone
Scoliosis
Slumped shoulders
Steroids inducing vertebral degeneration and collapse
Knock knees
Bowleggedness
Osteoporosis
Disc herniation

Each one of these will contribute in you losing height – sometimes an inch or more! Can you reverse the height loss and get taller?

But there’s one other cause of poor posture that really needs to be addressed – that of uneven hips and uneven leg lengths.

Who To See Or Not See When You Have A Musculoskeletal Problem

The health expert that usually detects this type of problem isn’t usually your traditional medical doctor; it’s your chiropractor.

Medical doctors have very few courses in musculoskeletal disorders and many would have to consult other specialists if they had to give a seminar on posture, let alone find a case of uneven hips or leg lengths.

That’s okay, since these health professionals are great for emergency medicine and diagnosing other illnesses, as long as you know who to visit to find out if the condition applies to you.

The health practitioner you need to determine if your leg lengths or hips are uneven is a chiropractor.

Trained for four long years on hundreds of musculoskeletal diseases and what to do about them, he or she is your go-to person to get help.

What Happens When You Have Uneven Hips

When you have a condition such as uneven hips, the unevenness throws off your normal spinal curves and can even cause a scoliosis, which is a lateral deviation of the spine.

The unevenness can also potentially make your gait abnormal, by making you put more pressure on one leg than the other.

The nursery rhyme many of us learned in grade school gives us some insight into what is happening here: The shin bone is connected to the knee bone. The knee bone is connected to the leg bone. The leg bone is connected to the hip bone… and on and on.

Since every part of the body is connected to the other parts, what happens to one part ends up causing something else to happen in a surrounding part.

Diagnosis Of Uneven Hips

So when you look at the hips that are not even with each other, you must look for the cause of it. Here are some causes:

Undeveloped pelvic bone on one side
Undeveloped muscles that attach to the pelvis
Disease in one side of the pelvis
Arthritis in pelvis or hip
Scoliosis of the spine

In some of these cases, a person would need prompt medical attention to address the situation.

But in the case of underdeveloped muscles that attach to the pelvis, that’s one that you can handle by getting some good chiropractic care or a physical therapist who has a Ph.D. in his art.

Thirty-five different muscles attach to the pelvis. If some of these muscles are weak on one side, stronger muscles on that same side may pull the pelvis in another direction, such as lowering it, and thus resulting in a loss of evenness of the pelvis.

That’s why a health professional should direct you in what to do when you have an uneven pelvis. But it doesn’t mean you can’t do anything for it on your own.

Think about this. You have your buttock muscles, called Gluteus muscles. Did you know that there are three levels of Gluteus muscles? All of them – Gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus attach to the pelvis.

Improve Your Posture When You Have Uneven Hips: Here’s Why

Sitting for long periods of time can make you lose the tone of the buttock muscles. Sitting improperly also affects other muscles in a negative fashion.

That’s why improving posture should always be considered in any physical condition involving the skeleton.

As an aside, some women report that their PMS was associated with sititng too much and weak buttock muscles!

Your Weight Transferences Are Dealt With By Your Posture

When you stand, the weight of your torso is transferred down the spine to the sacrum which connects to the pelvis.

When you run or walk, the forces of impact will travel upwards through the femur bone into the pelvis and then to the spine.

When you sit in a slumped position, you are sitting on the sacrum, not the pelvic bones. This forces the sacrum to lock up and cause pain. Your posture has everything to do with the stress placed on your skeletal bones and how tall you are.

Improving your posture is such an easy thing to do. For starters, protect your pelvis from becoming uneven by sitting up straight in your chair.

To do this, move your tailbone as far towards the back of your seat as is possible. This sets your weight on the pelvic bones, not the sacrum. Sit equally on both sides; don’t favor one side more than the other.

And do remember that one of the simplest causes of uneven pelvic bones could be sitting on a wallet. Take it out of your back pocket before you sit down!

Start improving your posture today. Here’s a book I recommend – Perfect Posture Program.

Stop Letting Poor Muscle Tone Make You Shorter In Height!

Blake — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 10:07:46 +0000

One of the easiest ways to be taller is to eliminate your poor muscle tone, which is causing poor posture.

Poor posture then contributes to poor spinal health, which can leave you with back pain, neck pain, mid back pain and a lot more uncomfortable feelings you have to suffer from every day of your life.

What Is Poor Muscle Tone?

Poor muscle tone occurs when the muscles cannot support themselves adequately. It shows up in poor posture.

This is reflected in the following symptoms:

Protruding belly
Slumped shoulders
Underarms that hang free or jiggle
Thighs that have no shape
Love handles
and more

Why Some People Shrink In Height From Poor Posture

These are some of the common excuses people give for having poor posture:

“My boss won’t get me an ergonomic chair and I have to slump!”
“I’m too tired to sit up straight at work!”
“When I’m feeling depressed, it’s difficult to stand up straight!”
“My pants are too baggy to have good posture.”
“When I get home from work, I just want to relax, not sit up straight!”

People can give all the excuses that they want for poor posture and not wanting to improve posture, but the bottom line is always this:

Their muscles lack good tone, which is the foundation for improving posture.

How Life Could Be With Good Muscle Tone And Improved Posture

Life is completely different when you have been taking care of yourself by improving your muscle tone.

Think about it like this:

● If you had good muscle tone, you could sit up straight in any chair, whether it’s an ergonomic chair or not.

● If you have good muscle tone, you can still sit up straight at work after a trying night of no sleep because your muscles will support you.

● With good muscle tone, you feel depressed less often because when your body position is changed to standing and sitting up straight, you feel better.

● With good muscle tone, you don’t have to wear baggy pants anymore. You will want to show off your shape! You don’t get swallowed up in baggy clothes that bring down your mood – and your posture with it. (They also make you appear shorter.)

● When you have good muscle tone, you will have plenty of energy when you get home from work so you won’t have to collapse on the couch in poor posture.

The answer is to get out there and get the muscle tone you need. All it takes is a minimum of three 42-minute workouts in a health club on the weight machines three times a week.

Even the most scheduled business executive can manage to incorporate three workouts a week into his schedule, especially when two can be accomplished on the Friday-Saturday-Sunday weekend.

That only leaves one more workout for the week, to be scheduled on Tuesday or Wednesday, as the schedule permits.

Benefits Of Eliminating Poor Muscle Tone

Your first workout gets the blood flowing to the muscles and your muscles practically break out in a song of thanks! If muscles could feel, they would say that they love the feeling of being pumped up.

That first workout does a lot more good for your body than you know:

✔ Increases endorphins that make you feel calm and relaxed
✔ The extra circulation nourishes all your body organs.
✔ You look more radiant and alive.
✔ Your energy levels increase and you are more productive.

Poor muscle tone results from not working the muscles enough, not moving your body enough in varied ways. Not working the muscles results in flabby looking, undefined muscles, which really are not that attractive.

When you look at a bodybuilder, each muscle is defined – and capable of performing its job at the maximum capacity in any situation, at any time, day or night.

You don’t have to look that sculpted to have excellent muscle tone. Just three 42-minute workouts in the gym per week have been successful for over 200,000 people that stuck to the Body for Life Program written by Bill Phillips.

They committed to 12 weeks and literally watched their body transform into one that displayed confidence, stability, health and vitality. And they all looked taller, too.

The consequences of not improving your muscle tone is poor flexibility, tight muscles, aches and pains, more injury prone, difficulty relaxing, poor posture, and shrinking height. It’s just not worth it in this 21st century!

Incorporate Posture Exercises In Your Muscle Tone Program

If you’re still not convinced, you may want to at least read the ebook, Perfect Posture Program.

It will get you interested in simple exercises to start at home that start giving you better muscle tone.

Actually, the posture improvement exercises in this book will help you whether you go to the health club or not.

Seriously, do change your muscle tone from poor to great with weight resistance exercises. After you see results in a few short sessions, then it’s time to really get those muscles up to par by getting to the health club. Three times a week for 42 minutes.

That’s all that’s needed and you’ll see the poor muscle tone transform into good muscle tone, which is associated with improved posture, and a return in your height.

Parents: What To Know About Knock Knees Before You Go To The Doctor

Blake — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 09:59:40 +0000

What Is Knock Knees? What Is Bowleggedness?

When you look at someone standing in front of you who is wearing shorts, you should observe something when they stand with feet together:

The ankles should touch each other.
The knees should touch each other.
There is no space between the upper or lower legs.

But when someone has knock knees, also called genu valgum by the medical and health community, these things are found:

Their ankles don’t touch each other.
Their knees touch each other.
The distance between the ankles and knees are different.
It appears that the knees are knocking against each other.

Knock knees is a condition where those afflicted like to cover up their legs with jeans or pants so that no one sees them. They don’t want to be teased about them.

How Bowleggedness Looks

When someone has bowleggedness (also called genu varum), there’s a large diamond spaced shape of emptiness in between their legs when the ankles are next to each other. In severe cases the diamond takes on more of an appearance of a rounded bow.

In bowleggedness, the knees don’t knock against each other. They do cause embarrassment, though.

Why Do Knock Knees Develop In The First Place?

The fact is that no one should be teasing people with knock knees because every one of us had knock knees as a child.

It’s part of the normal development of the skeleton, and if you look around, you will find that most children are knock kneed, even though it may be slight, by the age of 2 or 3 years old. The ankles don’t touch when their knees touch.

Scientists think it has to do with the normal fetal position in the womb and also with normal growth and development.

Because little kids start becoming active, running, cycling, walking, sprinting, and everything else little kids do, their muscles start developing so that the ankles eventually are together by the age of 5 or 6.

When Is Knock Knees Serious?

Doctors aren’t too concerned with knock knees, unless it persists past the age of 6. Many times they will send the patient home without knock knees treatment.

If the condition persists past the age of 6, it’s entirely possible that other conditions may be underlying the knock knees. Here are a few of them:

• Rickets, A Vitamin D Deficiency

This condition may be entirely possible, even though vitamin D has been added to milk. Health practitioners are discovering that up to 75% of the population is vitamin D deficient, and that includes moms who are pregnant. The small amount added to milk isn’t enough to keep the deficiency away.

Rickets is usually seen in skeletal deformities, with the classic sign where the legs bow out like a person is riding a horse.

• Infection Of The Bone, Or Osteomyelitis

No one knows for sure how these bone infections really start. It seems difficult to get a wound in your bone when there’s no trauma to the surrounding flesh.

Most likely, the cause of the bone infection is a depressed immune system that allows another microorganism that already is in the body causing infection to travel to the bone where it sets up an infection.

Osteomyelitis is a pretty serious condition that needs medical treatment, and that’s why if your son or daughter’s knock knees persist past the young age of 5 or 6, then you should seek medical treatment – or at least a diagnosis.

• Vitamin C Deficiency, Called Scurvy

Did you know that vitamin C is very important for the production of connective tissue in your body? The term connective tissue refers to the tissues that connect the body together – muscles, tendons, ligaments and the cells in between.

Vitamin C sends a signal to the bones to move in certain ways. For example, bones that are mending need a signal to close the wound.

Other symptoms of a vitamin C deficiency include: bruising, pinpoint hemorrhages seen in the skin, fatigue, listlessness, nosebleeds, swollen or painful joints, anemia, slow healing of wounds, bleeding gums, shortness of breath, and weakened dentine of the teeth.

It’s great to know that most children will probably not need knock knees treatment. But do insure that your child gets plenty of vitamin C and vitamin D – and all the rest of the vitamins and minerals he or she needs to grow up healthy.

These same vitamins and minerals prevent infections from happening that can affect the bone as well.

If your child still has knock knees in older years, rest assured that he or she won’t have to go through life with the embarrassment that many suffer from when they have the problem. Surgical techniques can change knock knees into beautiful knees in very little time.

Lack Of Exercise Can Rob You Of Your Height

Blake — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:49:22 +0000

Do you realize that when you were a young child, you couldn’t wait to do posture exercises?

You grabbed onto the monkey bars and hung like a monkey, then dropped to the ground. If you were curious about your body, you may have even brought your legs up to your abdomen to complete your first abdominal crunch.

Another of the posture correction exercises you did as a child was getting on the circular “circus” that had bars on it to hold onto. You grabbed those bars and someone made the circus turn faster and faster.

You felt yourself being pulled by centrifugal force to the outside of the circus and let your body stretch outwards.

As a child, you couldn’t wait to get out of the house to run and play. Moving your body was great! It felt so good, and little did you know, but the more you moved, the more you developed coordination skills that you still have today.

What Happened To The Posture Exercises You Did As A Child?

As most people age, they become burdened with responsibilities. And the first thing to go is exercise and the great feelings that go along with exercise.

You may sit at your desk 8 hours a day for work, and not be able to take too many breaks due to your workload. And this desk sitting and resulting lack of exercise can rob you of your height.

Damages Of Lack Of Exercise, Especially If You Have A Desk Job

What lack of exercise does to the body is rob it of its vitality. Muscles become weak and smaller. Their muscle tone looks as if they never had any definition at all.

Some muscles become tight and are contracted while others become weaker and are lax. The imbalance starts to take a toll on the body.

The first month you may feel as if you are doing alright. However, each day you slump at your desk or bring your head forward to see the screen better, you are causing minute changes in the set point of your muscles, ligaments and tendons. You are readjusting them for bad posture.

How Much Height Do You Lose?

Slumping is a sure way to decrease your height. You’d probably need to be a mathematician to calculate how much height you would lose by slumping, but whatever the formula is, it’s guaranteed to add up fast.

Expect at least a half inch and in some cases, up to 2 inches!

A smartie would probably take your height when you sit in your desk chair with good posture. The second height would be taken when you sit in the same chair slumped and with your head forward.

Then subtract the second number from the first number and see how much height you would lose.

Just Get Back To The Gym And Act Like A Child Again!

Simply getting back to working out at the gym can make you feel like a child again. And there are plenty of posture exercises for women and men to do at the gym.

You won’t find the monkey bars inside the gym, but rather at the kids’ playground, but there are plenty of other types of exercises to get started on.

In this case, it doesn’t matter if you are male or female. Your bad posture at work means that you will need posture correction exercises for men or women, depending on your gender.

Expand Your Chest Cavity With The Pec Fly Machine

For example, there are exercise machines called pec fly’s that will increase the size of your pectoralis or chest muscles.

That’s good, but if you’ve been slumping at your desk and not working out for several months, you will need to open up your chest area first before you work on strengthening the chest muscles.

This is because slumping causes a collapse of the chest muscles and a lengthening of the muscles in your upper back. You don’t want those upper back muscles to lengthen; you want them to get back to their original shape.

So using the pec fly muscle machine, you may be able to sit in the machine backwards and work on those muscles first. Do a few sets before you do any sets of the pectoralis muscle exercises.

Gyms have a variety of exercise tools available now, more than ever. There are exercise balls, rubber bands, half dome balls, and sometimes even long dowels.

Use The Big Exercise Balls

When lack of exercise has caused you to slump at work, then you may want to sit on the floor with an exercise ball behind you. These exercise balls are the giant 3-foot tall balls.

Since your shoulders are slumping forward, you want to stretch out over the ball backwards to stretch your chest forward and your shoulders backwards. This is an exercise that will feel good to your back when you start exercising again.

Hold the position for 20 to 30 seconds. And take some deep breaths while you hold the position to get your body used to breathing fully again.

Use A Long Dowel At The Gym Or At Home

A long dowel can be used in exercises to improve posture. Simply hold the dowel with hands on it shoulder width as if you were going to press it up into the air. Then squeeze your shoulder blades together and twist gently from side to side.

Make posture exercises a priority in your life if you haven’t been exercising. These exercises will rejuvenate you and help you regain the height you have lost, while pumping up your body with pain-killing and ecstasy-like endorphins that make you feel the best you’ve felt in awhile.

And just to be ready for more, you might want to get the ebook, Perfect Posture Program to take your body to the next level of health and fitness.

You won’t regret it!

Can You Develop A Hunchback At Your Job?

Blake — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 10:09:59 +0000

Fred had good posture when he first started his job at the food processing plant. But as the weeks went on he knew that he had to do something to improve his posture.

His job was to watch the corn coming in on the conveyor belt and pick out the ones that were full of smut. These had to be discarded so that consumers didn’t eat them.

Fred realized that it was a pretty important job, and saw his work as a way to help mankind.

Sure, it wasn’t like being a humanitarian who hands out grants and money to different organizations and associations, but nevertheless, he was playing a big part in the health and safety of those who ate corn.

What Contributes To Poor Posture?

When he first started his job, he realized he felt horrible after a full day of work. After doing some online research, he attributed this to:

1. Standing on a concrete floor all day long

2. Inappropriate shoes to support his feet

3. Reaching over to pick the corn off the belt repeatedly

4. Looking down constantly

5. Hunching over during the job

Yet, his supervisors never seemed to notice that his posture was going from good to poor. They never once said, “Fred, stand up straight!” Nor did they send him to an inhouse training on how to improve posture.

This actually is quite common. It’s simply because supervisors don’t know how to improve posture, so they don’t look for employees that are in need of it.

Fred put in his hours at the plant and when the corn season was in full harvest, he worked the necessary overtime hours to help out. But his desire to help humans exceeded his body’s ability to recover from the job.

Posture Changes Are Evident To Others

Fred’s posture started to decline rapidly. He looked around at work. It seemed that everyone had a hunchback of some sort; the old timers had the worst and the newest employees had the beginning signs, which were:

forward head
locked knees
exaggerated curve at the back of the neck
tightness around the clavicle
soreness in upper back and neck muscles

His wife started nagging him more often about his stooped position. Although he tried to stand up straight at times, it wasn’t long before his body fell back into the hunched position.

Even on weekends, he felt like he was still picking corn off the belt! His body took on the corn picking posture!

You don’t have to be in a corn picking job to start developing a hunchback. You could be sitting at a desk at work and start developing one.

What To Do At Work To Correct Your Posture

When sitting at your desk, do these things to correct your posture:

1. Move your tailbone as far back as you can. This resets the base you are sitting on.

2.Use a lumbar support pillow on your chair. As the name implies, the pillow will support your low back.

A Lumbar Support Pillow

3. Try to get a chair with armrests so you don’t have to physically hold your arms up.

4. Have someone look at your position from the side and make sure that you aren’t looking up at the computer screen with your chin up. This flattens the cervical curve in the neck and contributes to the degeneration.

5. Have someone check your shoulder position every hour on the hour for three days. This may sound like a lot, but you will need constant reminders of your posture if you want to improve your posture.

It’s very important to start correcting your posture as soon as you detect that it is becoming a problem. The longer you wait, the longer it will take you to correct it.

What to Do At Work to Correct Your Standing Posture

If you have a job like Fred, then you will take other measures to improve your posture:

When standing at your job, do these things to correct your posture:

1. You must purchase a pair of shoes that are solid and made for standing for long hours at a time.

2. Ask the management if they can purchase a specific type of padding that absorbs the shock of standing for long hours. This helps immensely. Standing on concrete is not good!

3. For every half hour you are bent over in the corn picking posture, do a set of exercises where you squeeze your shoulder blades together and hold them in that position for 5 seconds. You must oppose the muscles that are being used in the corn picking position.

4. Stretch your arms backwards as often as possible.

5. Do neck rolls when you first start the job and then at least once an hour.

Fred went far beyond the call of duty at work. His wife enrolled him in a yoga class which also helped improve his posture, even though he only attended on weekends. He then passed along the yoga stretches to his fellow workers during lunchtime.

And all of them benefited.

But Fred still needed more help with his hunchback. He had to do specific exercises to improve posture.

And so will you. Don’t be satisfied with just feeling better when you already feel so bad! Body aches and pains don’t have to accompany you in your walk through life.

Get started learning how to improve your posture with Perfect Posture Program. And then see what happens to not only your posture, but also your moods, your relationships, and even your promotions!

Scoliosis Can Decrease Your Height: Scoliosis Treatment and Exercises

admin — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:26:03 +0000

Photo credit: nlm.nih.gov

Scoliosis of the spine occurs at a rate of about 1 of every 200 men and 2 of every 100 women. But why does it occur at all?

For decades, doctors and scientists have debated about the cause of scoliosis. They are interested in this health issue because it usually starts in the early teen years.

Scientists haven’t come up with a final verdict on why someone gets develops this curvature of the spine although some of the most promising theories postulate that nutritional deficiencies are at the root cause.

These are plausible theories since in animal studies, a manganese deficiency causes scoliosis. Manganese is vital for the connective tissue in the body – the muscles, tendons and ligaments, as well as bones – to grow as they should.

There are other vitamins and minerals necessary for the proper synthesis of connective tissue in the body and to improve posture. Some of these nutrients include:

Vitamin C
Zinc
Vitamin E
Vitamin D
Calcium
Magnesium
Silica

If the connective tissue can’t be made properly, then the weak tissues cannot support the spine and the curvature and the need to improve posture shows up.

And with the poor American diet that is consumed, it’s entirely possible that deficiencies of these essential elements as well as manganese contribute to the development of the lateral curvature of the spine.

What is Scoliosis?

And that’s exactly what scoliosis is – the development of a curvature of the spine. Instead of a straight spine, the spine curves like the letter S or the letter C, and can cause considerable amount of pain in one’s lifetime.

But what is scoliosis, really? Is it scoliosis if the curve is minimal, like a 5 degree or 10 degree curve? When does the degree of curvature meet a diagnosis of scoliosis?

The answer is that 10 degrees is the cutoff number. If you have a scoliosis of less than 10 degrees, then your spine is called “asymmetrical”, not scoliotic.

And when does scoliosis become mild, moderate or severe? The answer to this question is in the chart below.

Degree of Curvature Type of Scoliosis

Less than 30 degrees - mild scoliosis

30-50 degrees – moderate scoliosis

50 to 60 degrees - severe scoliosis

But there is another consideration. Scoliosis may not just be a lateral deviation of the spine; the spine may also twist while it turns.

The vertebrae of the spine have a long “knob” that is located on the back that runs down the middle of the spine. This is called the spinous process.

Photo credit: cedars-sinai.edu

In scoliosis with a twist and a turn in the backbone, this knob moves to the left or the right, and can be as much as 65 degrees away from where it should be!

If the backbone twists along its scoliotic curve, then how does someone untwist the spine? Is there really a scoliosis treatment that addresses the twisting and will improve posture?

Scoliosis Treatment of Children

The fear that parents and doctors have if your child has a 10-degree or more curve of scoliosis is that the curvature will progress to the point where internal organs are compromised.

For example, if the curvature involves the mid back region, the lungs could be compromised and you wouldn’t have the ability to breathe normally.

And if that fear is great enough for your child, a back brace will be prescribed. This back brace idea is practically a death sentence for children. That’s because of these four things:

1. The brace prevents them from moving as other children move around.

2. Other children make fun of kids in a brace.

3. The brace has to be worn for 23 hours a day.

4. Wearing a brace also doesn’t let the skin breathe and it’s hot, as well.

The interesting and more devastating part is that even though the brace is worn, the scoliosis may still progress; thus the scoliosis treatment was a failure.

Bracing isn’t the only scoliosis treatment to fear. Surgery is another. Metal rods are inserted into the spine and it is a painful process. Moreover, the surgery may be repeated as the child grows.

Scoliosis Exercises

You would think that other treatments have cropped up in the last decade for those with scoliosis. This is true.

Some spinal experts from the chiropractic field have created scoliosis treatments and/or scoliosis tools that can be used with children. The treatment plan usually includes:

1. Distraction of the spine to “stretch” it back into its original conformation and untwist the spine and thus, improve posture.

2. Extensive exercises that must be performed daily.

3. Scoliosis exercises that may hurt initially, as they must re-train the muscles.

4. Nutritional supplements that insure that the connective tissue is being synthesized correctly.

5. Multiple appointments over a long period of time to stay on top of the scoliosis.

And there have been successful outcomes in some of these other methods.

Hope for Scoliosis Sufferers

Those with moderate and severe scoliosis need to be seen by a health practitioner who has worked with hundreds of scoliosis sufferers, not someone who simply does an occasional surgery for it. Get an expert and then a second opinion.

If you have a mild scoliosis, health practitioners simply send you home and say, “Come back in 6 months and we will watch it to make sure that it doesn’t progress.”

But they forget the importance of exercise in this health challenge. Why not focus on improving posture and scoliosis exercises? Movement is always a good thing, if you have scoliosis or not.

Improving posture is also important because it’s too easy to develop bad habits such as:

slouching at the desk
looking down at the ground when walking
slumping into a couch or easy chair and not moving for hours
not remembering to tuck in the pelvis at the right angle

With this in mind, you can start simple exercises at home today to improve your posture.

Take a look at the ebook, Perfect Posture Program, and get further insight into this area.

Kyphosis Treatment: What Can Be Done By Doctors and By Yourself

admin — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 10:42:18 +0000

Photo credit: nlm.nih.gov

Have you ever heard of the Hunchback of Notre Dame? This was a movie that came out in 1939.

The movie is about a beautiful gypsy girl who is framed for a murder. It’s the hunchback of Notre Dame who saves her. This movie introduced the concept of kyphosis to the general population.

In the movie, the hunchback has a hump on his upper back. When you look at him from the side, you can clearly see the hump almost looking as if it were the hump of a camel.

What is Kyphosis?

What is that hump? What is kyphosis? It’s actually a deviation of the spine. Instead of the spine being straight, it curves to form the deformity.

Now for just a moment, think of what that deformity does to someone’s height. It shrinks them! And if they could eliminate the deformity, their height would increase.

The deformity of kyphosis doesn’t make anyone into a monster. And kyphosis doesn’t have to be as bad as the kyphosis seen in the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Postural Kyphosis Should Be Avoided at All Costs

Kyphosis can be postural kyphosis, due to bad posture. In fact, knowing what the Hunchback of Notre Dame looked like and posting a little picture of him on your computer screen may be enough motivation for you to improve your posture so that you don’t end up with a kyphosis.

It’s our daily habits that can easily turn into more serious problems such as postural kypphosis.

For example, if you sit in your chair at your desk with your tailbone forward instead of back towards the back of the chair, it throws off the rest of your posture.

Then if you add another component – that of sticking out your neck like a turtle toward the computer screen, you have now started to cause degenerative changes that can lead in the direction of postural kyphosis.

Kyphosis Exercises

You have to spend time improving your posture for this type of kyphosis treatment. And that takes doing different types of exercises for kyphosis. Here are two of them.

1. Scapula Squeeze

One type of exercise for kyphosis could be the Scapula Squeeze. In this exercise, you pull your shoulders backwards trying to squeeze the shoulder blades (scapula) together.

This strengthens the muscles that help keep the upper part of your back in alignment with the rest of your spine.

2. Neck Mobility Exercise

Another type of exercise for kyphosis may focus on cervical kyphosis. This is where the hump of the spine is more in the neck region, not like what you see in the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

In this exercise, you will increase the range of motion of your neck in every direction. Don’t get crazy and try to push yourself to the limits! Instead, do this:

a. Bring your neck slowly down to your chest. Then bring it up towards the ceiling.

b. Next from a neutral position of looking forward, turn your neck slowly to one side, hold it at the end point of motion, then return to neutral and do the other side.

c. Starting with neutral position again, bring your ear down towards your right shoulder, and back to neutral again. Then do the same with the left shoulder.

Anyone Can Develop a Kyphosis During Life

Kyphosis can also be caused by a trauma. For example, some people in car accidents suffer from fractured vertebrae and herniated disks in their thoracic spine.

When a disk is herniated and a vertebrae is fractured, that fracture may show up on x-ray as a collapsed vertebrae.

The problem is that the vertebrae may not collapse equally on all sides. Instead, if one side collapses leaving the other side intact, now you have a wedge-shaped vertebral body.

Nothing holds up the side of that vertebrae that collapsed and now the structure of the whole spine is changed forever. The kyphosis starts to show up in the outward appearance of the person, and there’s a lot of pain because of all the changes that are occurring.

The muscles have to work extra hard, the tendons are overstretched, as well as the ligaments. This causes the pain felt with kyphosis that occurs from a trauma.

Kyphosis Treatment Will Always Include Exercises that Improve Posture

What does a doctor due for kyphosis treatment? In this case, a new type of kyphosis treatment was created about a decade ago.

During surgery, a wedge is inserted where the vertebrae collapsed. The wedge now holds up the vertebrae and the kyphosis is restored.

I’ve seen how this type of surgery can actually eliminate the kyphosis and bring back a normal appearance to the spine. It also returns the person’s height to close to normal.

What a wonderful stroke of genius this is to have conceived of this type of treatment! It has already helped many people.

Steroid-Induced Kyphosis is Similar to What Happens in a Trauma

Steroids are often used in patients who have a lot of inflammation. Steroids are a quick way to reduce inflammation.

But there’s a downside to steroids. When used for a long time, they contribute to the breakdown of collagen and osteoporosis, or porous bones.

When osteoporosis sets in, one little trigger can collapse the vertebrae. That little trigger could be something as simple as opening a window!

And again, as in the case of a trauma, that little trigger can break a vertebrae that does not collapse evenly. Soon kyphosis sets in and the hump seen in the Hunchback of Notre Dame occurs.

Meanwhile the steroids are also causing a decrease in the collagen of the face and the person starts aging rapidly. Soon the person no longer wants to look in the mirror!

It’s not uncommon that someone ages 20 years after taking steroids for 18 months.

Kyphosis Treatment for Steroid-Induced Kyphosis

At this point, the person absolutely must do kyphosis exercises as well as see the doctor to find out if the wedge surgery can be performed.

In life, your posture is one of the most important things that you can preserve as you age. Yet, it is something that very few people think about preserving. Be smart and start now!

Improve your posture. One book I recommend is called the Perfect Posture Program.

It’s an excellent place to start.