Normal Changes

(1) Change: Never a dull moment

A healthy spine will be able to change its posture vigorously, adapting to one’s positioning needs and feelings of the moment. The posture we gravitate towards most readily in any given situation will be the accumulative effect of how we’ve been posturing over time.

(2) The Double S Shock Absorber

What is often referred to as good posture, described as straight and erect, is actually the manifestation of a double S-shaped spinal curve when the spine is viewed from the side, as shown.

These natural curves, along with the intervertebral discs, is ideal for evenly distributing weight bearing stress throughout. Unfortunately, this double S-shape has become more the exception than the rule, replaced by a posture of bending forward in a hunched over position. Instinctively, this is the position we go into when we’re suddenly frightened into defense. In this stressed position, the head is forward of the body.

The forward and backward bending curves of the lower spine are equally important, congruent with our male or female anatomy and the range of how we experience, express, and move through life’s events. There are, of course, distortions involving lateral bending and rotational curvatures as well, referred to as scoliosis. As we age, any departure from the healthy, weight-distributed and balanced, double S-shaped spinal curve in being our easiest, most accommodating position when standing or sitting upright, will severely strain the spinal muscles and joints, along with the functioning of the spinal cord in its important role of mediating communication between brain and body. This is completely preventable and significantly, if not totally, reversible.

(3) Technology can take the life out of us. That is, without a practice of improving results to counteract.

In today’s modern world of stress, computers, and so on, a stiff posture has unfortunately become commonplace. A defensive, rigid spine will be accompanied by restricted, shallow respiration. Our 32 to 34 spinal segments^* may still allow us to move as needed for most activities, though in a somewhat disjointed and taxing fashion, making it more difficult to adapt to life’s many changing demands. The good news is that everyone is capable of giving themselves a tune-up, with or without Network Care, using a simple technique called Somato Respiratory Integration.

Footnote:

* Sometimes you’ll hear that there are 31 segments or vertebra of the human spine. This refers to the fact that there are 31 pairs of nerves branching off of the spinal cord, connecting the brain to all parts of limbs and organs. Four bones, sometimes 3 or 5, make up the coccyx, often referred to as the tailbone.

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