Stand up Straight
By Doreen Lewis, D.C., C.C.N.,
D.A.B.C.I., D.A.C.B.N.

I can still hear my mother say, “Stand up straight!” Those unwelcome words now echo in the back of my mind continually, for now I am a Chiropractor. But, I do want to share what I tell teenagers so you can pass it on!

1. Girls like tall guys. The prettier the girl, the taller the young man – well maybe?
2. Stand up straight – It shows off your chest. This works for both sexes.
3. The straighter you stand, the more weight you can carry.

Well, these are not always true, but it definitely gets the point across to our young adults!

There are a lot of benefits to having correct posture, the first being it increases your lung capacity. Have you noticed how church choirs stand to sing? It opens the chest cavity and diaphragm. Lung capacity, also known as forced vital capacity, is the #1 indication of longevity. The greater the value (easily tested with spirometry), the longer the life expectancy.

People with asthma, lung or heart problems usually have rounded shoulders. Unconsciously, they round down to protect their heart and lungs. This is one reason why chiropractic adjustments do so much good, especially for asthmatics. It corrects the posture. Secondly, by adjusting the spine, proper nerve supply, via the cardiopulmonary (heart-lung) nerve supply is stimulated! It’s what the medical profession calls a somatovisceral reflex. This is why chiropractors have such great success with both adult and juvenile asthma. Just for the record, Japanese medicine states that to reduce asthma complaints, clean the colon (colon hydrotherapy, acupuncture, adjusting L1 – to stimulate the lumbar splanchnic nerves and give acidophilus). Nutritionally, I would recommend avoiding dairy products while taking L-Cysteine to thin the mucus secretions, doing delayed sensitivities, by blood draw and using CRA – Contact Reflex Analysis and TBM – Total Body Modification, to reduce air borne allergies.

Exercise can really strengthen the spine and enable one to stand up straight. For example, one of the biggest promoters of poor posture is an enlarged “gut”. Firming up the tummy muscles can help correct a “sway back”. Tuning up the rhomboid muscles (between the shoulder blades) can pull the shoulders back. This should be balanced with neuromuscular therapy and kinesiology to rebalance muscles that are too weak or too tight. It also means, no high-heeled shoes or flats. Our bodies do best with a 1” heel!

I do have one more suggestion – a cervical pillow. Using a cervical pillow while lying on your back with your knees bent for at least 15 minutes every night will help restore the proper neck curve. This, in turn, will translate down the rest of the spine to improve posture. The best benefit to using a cervical pillow is that the chest muscles, like the pectoralis muscles, can relax and increase lung capacity! Lastly, for middle-aged ladies like myself, sleeping one your back prevents you from overstretching your facial tissue (wrinkles). What an added blessing!