Corrective Exercise|Back Pain: Straighten Out or Stiffen Up!

Joel E. Goldthwait states that “The nervous system is peculiarly protected by a bony covering against trauma from without, but is unprotected against mechanical trauma from within”. To expand this thought further, the musculoskeletal system fundamentally is unprotected from within. Mechanical stress is one of the key contributors to the onset or exacerbation of osteoarthritis. In plain English, this means that the majority of pain that people have is a result of the body being in poor position. When your body is out of place so to speak, nerves and blood vessels get compressed, waste products build up in a concentrated area and creates pain. If the thought of looking better and feeling better isn’t motivation enough to focus on your posture, then consider that it will help you get out of pain. With that being said, it’s not just about making your body as straight as you can. Taking your posture to the other extreme will create the same problems. The key is finding the balance or zero resistance point within your own body##