Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/918051
It is these negative effects or symptoms that typically bring clients into our offices. The classic FHP client will present with neck, upper back, or headache pain (or all of the above), usually of an unknown origin. The onset of pain is commonly later in the day. When we dig a little into the health history of the client, they will often express that fatigue is, on some level, taking a toll on their life. Of course it is! Carrying around an extra 20-plus pounds all day, every day is exhausting! These clients typically feel better in the morning because those muscles have been allowed to rest while they lie down at night. In Part 1, we talked about how bodyworkers can often be drawn into the trap of spending a great deal of time and energy focusing on the tight, tender, overworked muscles that are responsible for supporting the additional weight of a head held in forward posture. But this approach is unlikely to yield any type of long-term gain because as soon as the client goes from the nonweight-bearing position of lying on your treatment table to an upright posture, the muscles that you've spent so much time softening/ decreasing their resting tension will have to rapidly ramp the level of tension right back to the level necessary to accommodate the extra weight of the head in FHP. The body ramps up tension in those muscles for a reason: to accommodate the extra weight of the head in FHP. Our clients do not carry out their lives in a nonweight-bearing position. Unless we can reduce the weight those muscles are required to hold, all the great work we do on the table will be undone shortly after the client stands up and their functional and symptomatic fate is sealed. This leads to a frustrating cycle for both the client and the bodyworker in which the client makes good progress during the session, but always slips backward between visits. We discussed in Part 1 the importance of speaking with our clients to identify any lifestyle or environmental factors that could be contributing to the issue that brought them in. We can benefit tremendously, as clinicians and bodyworkers, by having a strong background in the etiology of the most common postural problems. By knowing which lifestyle factors create the environment where structural deterioration and postural deformities thrive, we can more effectively guide our clients toward functionality and health. HOW POSTURAL DEFORMITIES GROW If you had a goal to grow the biggest, juiciest tomatoes in your backyard garden, wouldn't you want to know which specific conditions are required to reach that goal? You would want to find out which type of soil to use, exactly how much water to give them, and the precise location to plant in your yard to ensure the plants received the proper amount of sunlight. "Growing" postural deformities is the same concept: there is a recipe that leads to postural deformities. In the modern world, that recipe tends to have four main ingredients: 1. Physical inactivity 2. Too much time spent sitting 3. Smartphone/tablet/computer use 4. Improper footwear PHYSICAL INACTIVITY Throughout human history, physical activity has been the norm. We had to move each and every day to secure food, water, and shelter for ourselves. We, as modern human beings, have inherited this legacy of daily physical activity from our ancestors. Any departure from the traditional activity patterns of our ancestors seems to be accompanied by certain undesirable consequences. According to the Journal of Applied Physiology, "Humans inherited genes that were evolved to support a physically active lifestyle," and "physical inactivity in sedentary societies directly contributes to multiple chronic health disorders." 1 70 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k j a n u a r y / f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 8