The window to the spine

It is said that posture is the window to the spine. Poor posture leads to reduced mobility, general stiffness and chronic problems. The center of balance is often shifted several inches forward, causing extra strain on the muscles of the neck and back, leading to problems such as headache, back, neck and shoulder pain. The accompanying sunken chest and compressed abdominal cavity causes interference with breathing and digestion. The nervous system, which controls every cell in your body, cannot operate at an optimal level. You may be tired because of the extra energy you use just to stand up! Obviously, you're not your 100% best.

Becoming aware of postural faults

Surprisingly, even though the problems can be debilitating, many people are unaware of how poor their posture is. That's because the change is a slow process that has created the problems over a long time. Photographic evidence serves as a wake-up call for many of our patients that finally encourages them to take the action necessary to make a positive change.

Getting a baseline

To make a change you first must get a handle on your current situation. While the simple, low-tech methods of assessing posture can give you an overview of the problem, we prefer a computerised posture analysis for our patients who are serious about making a change.

A set of photographs with markers at key points on the body are taken with a digital camera and fed into a sophisticated computer program for analysis. The resulting computerised postural analysis gives you a safe, non-invasive, scientifically accurate biomechanical baseline in just 15 minutes.

Developing a corrective treatment programme

The program that we use in our clinic generates a set of specific exercises that empowers you to improve your posture and your health. At Belfast Back Care we combine these corrective exercises with our unique Theraflex spinal mobilisation tool. The Theraflex tool is a revoluntionary system that mobilises the vertebrae of the spine helping to ‘free’ stiff joints, this enables the muscles to correct poor posture much more effectively. Upon completion of the treatment programme, another photograph is taken and the computer makes a comparison. This process can be repeated safely until you have reached your best possible posture.