Massage & Bodywork

SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2017

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10 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k s e p t e m b e r / o c t o b e r 2 0 1 7 EDITOR'S NOTE Many of our treasured contributors have discussed postural challenges in the pages of Massage & Bodywork over the years including Mary Bond, Erik Dalton, Whitney Lowe, Til Luchau, and Thomas Myers. But, as with many things in our evolving profession, it's a combined journey to address client issues, and fresh voices help practitioners tackle old challenges from new vantage points. So, we welcome California chiropractor Yoni Whitten to our world. He's devoted much of his career the last decade-plus to postural rehabilitation. I've learned so much from professionals such as Whitten who work to blend postural assessments with movement reeducation in order to broadly empower clients. As I feel the deadline pressure across my shoulders and think about how good a chair massage would feel about now, I can still remember Doc hollering at me across the arena and me trying to not look down to see if the coins were in place. Thank you, Doc. I can't wait to get back in the saddle tonight! LESLIE A. YOUNG, PhD Editor-in-Chief leslie@abmp.com Fine-tuning a cover story on posture—and writing this Editor's Note on a Throwback Thursday—takes me back to my childhood memories. I can still hear the wisdom, and feel the thigh burn, after horseback riding lessons with "Doc" Pavetti. At the beginning of each lesson, he'd give me two 50 cent pieces to place between my knees and my horse. I could keep the coins—if they were still there at the end of the evening. We rode several times a week, so this was potentially big money to an 8-year-old cowgirl! Doc told me to pretend there was a string running up my spine, through the top of my skull, and connecting to the sky. I would breathe and stretch my head and neck upward, all the while making sure my heels, hips, and shoulders were aligned. Just to test me further, he'd make me take my boots out of the stirrups. To this day, I have to admit my posture is much better when I'm in the saddle than at any other time of day. Who knew decades later we'd be focused on postural assaults thanks to the by-products of our lifestyles and daily doses of technology. Wow—"computer neck" and "text neck" are things. I can't decide if they're an excuse for, or causes of, forward-head posture. Too much sitting? Let's stand at our desks and work. (I can't help but wonder if years down the road they'll decide people are standing too much.) Thank goodness for you bodyworkers who have solutions. Perspectives on Posture Leslie Young gains some perspective on posture thanks to her horse Roy.

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