Correct Posture: Is It Essential For Sports People? Chapter 6

Preceding all voluntary movements, no matter how small, a pre-emptive adjustment occurs to prepare for a change of position, known as postural preparation or anticipatory postural adjustment. Anticipation and preparation are essential for good movement so it is unfortunate that so many interfere with this process and seriously degrading movement by engaging inappropriate muscles. The example of getting up from a chair (see Chapter 3) highlights a number of inappropriate preparations.

We do not start to attempt the act until we have first set up the conditions we associate with the movement, even if unsuitable. You will be generally unaware of these preparatory actions and continue to apply them for every move. The affect of unsuitable preparations on movement can be likened to applying the brake on a car before driving off. Your habit of getting set to lift, run or play a shot could be reducing performance. If you are already in a state of unbalance before you move due to poor employment of muscle, the ensuing preparations for movement will be inappropriate leading to inefficient actions.

What Is Correct Posture?

Posture is a term to describe shape whether good or bad. Poise is either present or absent at any moment so to describe poise as good or bad is to misunderstand its meaning. The term posture is generally accepted to relate to the dynamic relationship of the body segments in activity. Poise is a state; an ability to maintain appropriate muscle tension at all times in both movement and static positions.

A well-balanced structure is supported and mobilised by gravitational forces with minimal effort. Correct posture is considered vital for health and functioning of the internal organs and all bodily functions. A poorly balanced structure requires inappropriate muscular activity to maintain position and initiate movement. This constant state of activity leads to unnecessary contraction to hold a position and impedes functioning. For example, tight muscles around the torso restrict movement of the ribcage and prevent natural breathing.

Poor posture is seen as a widespread problem afflicting the majority of the adult population prompting anthropologist Raymond Dart to refer to it as ‘the pandemic condition of malposture’.

As far back as 1945 malposture was regarded as a problem that required intervention.A study in the United States prepared for the White House Conference for Child Health and Hygiene assessed the physical abilities of a wide cross section of children. The subjects were monitored performing a number of simple acts such as standing, sitting and squatting. The number of older children ‘exhibiting poor body mechanics’ was a staggering eighty per cent!

If poor posture cannot be attributed to a specific medical condition, it is most likely to be something we are doing to ourselves that is to blame. So how do we develop poor posture? The conventional view is that it is due to habits developed through laziness and to treat the condition we therefore need to try harder to improve it. A lazy attitude may contribute to the problem, but not in the manner we might expect. Once a habit is learnt it cannot be unlearnt by trying harder.

Correct posture is seen to have many advantages. From an aesthetic point of view it can enhance image, sending out the right signals (body language). For an athlete it is seen to be essential. But what is a good posture? We recognise poor posture when we see it, as it is evident in the majority of adults regardless of athletic ability. But just to confuse the matter, people with an ideal ‘plumb-line’ correct posture can also have poor movement patterns. This is because it is not the shape that is important but how it is maintained.

A 'correct posture', i.e, one that looks right, can be achieved with totally inappropriate muscular activity. The distinguished physiologist Charles Sherrington once described our systems for maintaining posture as the ‘most uncertain and untrustworthy of all’. This is not encouraging when all corrective methods for improving posture rely on the very systems that are the cause of the problem. The fact that posture can deteriorate suggests the fallibility of the controlling mechanisms.

The conventional definition of correct posture is the alignment of body parts supported by the right amount of muscle tension. This view has led to the development of exercises to tone up postural muscles diagnosed as weak in order to achieve the ideal shape. Attaining good posture then became an end in itself. However, these methods do not go deep enough to address the cause and are consequently based on a partial understanding of the condition.

It Ain't What You Do
It's The Way That You Think!

Posture is the manifestation of attitude and not simply a matter of muscle tone. Every pathway from the brain leads eventually to a muscle. Our state of mind therefore influences every move and muscle action, to put it another way - we are what we think.

A sports commentator may use the phrases, ‘their heads have dropped’ or ‘the spring has gone from their step’ to describe the losing side. In contrast the winning side will have ‘their heads held high’ or be ‘walking tall’. It is no accident that many phrases used to describe attitude are bodily in nature, such as ‘stiff necked’ and ‘spineless’. Words used to express physical attributes, such as ‘balanced’ and ‘centered’, are also suitable to describe character. ‘Attitude’ also applies to both.

Non-Verbal Communication is an established branch of the behavioural sciences used extensively by the police and in the business community. We make many subconscious movements and gestures allowing others to read our thoughts or anticipate our actions.

Looking Good

Although poor posture is regarded by many to be a factor in performance, conventional exercises developed to address the problem fail to recognise the cause and cannot therefore offer a long-term solution. The wrong concept of a problem leads to seeking the wrong solution. In many cases, athletes experiencing difficulties with technique or repetitive injury do have poor posture.

A poorly aligned body uses inappropriate muscle activity to move resulting in mechanically inefficient movement of the joints. However, it is wrong to assume that posture is to blame. The assumption that the problem can be corrected by strengthening the weaker muscles through exercise is misguided. This superficial approach ignores the cause and simply tries to correct the symptom.

Our body is shaped by how we use it. Habit determines use and subsequent condition of muscle; therefore it is the underlying habits that need to change. Poor muscle tone is not the root cause of poor posture; it is the mechanisms that control muscle that are at fault.

Attempts to correct posture by exercise achieve, at best, temporary aesthetic results, or complicate the problem by consolidating the poor habits that led to the condition. Trying to correct posture through exercise involves the same faulty patterns guided by a poor sense of body awareness. If we can unknowingly get ourselves into this state, how are we to know the way out of it? I repeat, exercises do not change habits - they re-enforce them!

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