Spinal joint motion and your posture

By: Dr. Nicholas LaHood, D.C.

Your posture is a direct relationship between your spinal joints and discs. The more degenerative your spinal joints are or the more your spine is misaligned the worse your posture will be. Why does this matter, because your body funtions from your brain and spinal nerves if that communication is blocked or obstructed you will decrease in function. I have seen these changes occur hundreds of times. If you know a loved one who seems to be leaning forward more and more as they age. This is a degenerative process occurring to this person's spine. Eventually it will progressively advance worse.

The more severe your spine is misaligned the tighter the muscles will be supporting the spine, for they will be working harder to keep the spine upright. The postural changes that occur in humans usually happens at a very subtle rate, so slight it is hard to detect. The spinal vertebra are designed to stack on top of one another and move with each other. They are designed to move forward and backwards, tip side to side, and rotate left and right. If a spinal vertebra is misaligned, the misaligned joint will become restricted or lose some of its normal range of movement. This decrease in movement slowly starts a cascade of events including decreases in nutrients to the joint itself called the intervertebral disc. The weakening of the ligaments of the disc will compress the spinal joint and further decrease movement. Over a period of many years the degeneration process of the spine will alter your posture. Weather it is a cervical misalignment creating a forward head tilt compressing a spinal nerve related to the trapezium creating a spasm raising one shoulder higher than the other. The slightest misalignment will create abnormal motion which will begin to weaken the area of your spine. Look in the mirror at your shoulders ask yourself if they are even. Look at a side view of your head and neck in the mirror is it drawn forward or is it in a neutral position? These changes that occur may be becoming permanent and more complex as time goes on.

Dr. Nicholas LaHood is specifically trained to evaluate your posture and detect spinal misalignments, he is also in the safe conservative treatment for degenerative discs and spinal stenosis, neuroforaminal compression and herniated and bulging discs of the spine.