Is your stance predicting your future?

Bad posture and favoring “sides” can lead to:

Foot and ankle pain and degeneration

Knee pain and degeneration

Hip pain and degeneration

Back pain and degeneration

Impaired movement, need for a cane or walker, poor sleep, misery, poor balance, falls, pain while sitting, driving, standing, and working.

Contrapposto (Italian pronunciation: [kontrapˈposto]) is an Italian term that means “counterpoise”. It is used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot, so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs in the axial plane. (source: wikipedia)

Contrapposto was position used by sculptors to create a more dynamic “image” of the human form and posture. Imagine the standing position where you put more weight on one leg, and the other leg is bent back slightly.

Is your contrapposto posture going to affect your future?

This technique to create dynamism within a sculpture was first seen in Greece about 500 BCE. The term “chiropractic” comes from Cheir and Praxis which collectively mean “done by hand”. Chiropractic also focuses on the structure, posture, and function of the human form and how it impacts how your brain and nerves experience life.
While the posture and stance of statues in Contrapposto do indeed look more animated than those that are standing symmetrically and faced forward, in real life, this posture of counterpoise is not ideal.
Asymmetrical posturing while in the short term is no big deal, if done regularly and over years of standing or even sitting, can lead to hard to correct changes in the way your body absorbs stress.
Do you stand in a “contrapposto” or “counterpoise” position?

Dr. Lou standing in “Mykonos”, Greece with a contrapposto posture.

Are you rightfully concerned about your child who always stands crooked. What is good posture, what is bad posture? Watch the link below and see if you can pass the quiz!

 

Our office offers a limited number of posture screenings each week. The screenings are in house, and must be scheduled by calling (207) SPINAL-1. JCA will absorb the cost of the screening, all you have to do is schedule and show up. The testing is painless.The screening will identify or rule out posture situations that could lead to trouble now or later in life. This screening is valuable for all ages, and if you suspect Contrapposto standing in a family member, you are almost certainly “not imagining things”. The screening takes less than 10 minutes, and it is interactive, meaning that we will walk you through their screening to show you what Dr. Lou sees.