Sudha Verma, 45 and mother of two energetic teenagers, was diagnosed earlier this year with a prolapsed disc and sciatica. As her pain went from bad to worse, even simple tasks started proving difficult. Painkillers, nerve and muscle relaxants and physical treatments provided little relief, and Verma was on the verge of starting surgical decompression, when she was told about posture correction treatment. She started the sessions and, three weeks and six visits later, was almost pain-free. Three months later, fully cured and rehabilitated, she was back to being the active, central axis of her family.
Posture alignment has ushered in an exciting new dimension in the realm of orthopaedic treatment and made it possible to treat the majority of complex and painful problems more effectively and quickly. Recent advancements have linked postural distortion to the initiation and persistence of chronic pain, and posture re-alignment has become a very important basis for the non-invasive and non-surgical treatment of chronic disorders such as slipped disc, sciatica, spondylosis, chronic headaches and osteoarthritis.
Posture refers to the position in which you hold your body upright against gravity. Sitting and standing with proper postural alignment allows one to work more efficiently with less strain on the ligaments/muscles and minimises the damaging effects of gravity. Good posture involves training our body to stand, walk, sit and lie in positions which place the least strain during movement or weight bearing activities.
It’s when one’s posture is asymmetrical, when one side of the body is repeatedly favoured over the other, such as by the carrying of a heavy bag on one shoulder, that some muscles become “toned” from overuse and others “weakened” from lack of use. Posture distortion can also be caused by an old trauma, asymmetrical feet, leg length discrepancy, imbalanced eyesight, poor sitting and working habits or the use of unergonomically-designed work stations. Structural anatomical changes develop if poor posture is left uncorrected for many years.
Fortunately, it is now possible to elegantly assess and record postural-anomalies and treat them precisely. Posture correction treatment, a recent development in the field of Pain Management, is a combination of non-invasive painless techniques to effect a lasting change in postural biomechanics. Use of cutting-edge technology such as the Spineliner, Myoline and Diers 3D Formetric Posture scanner has made it very safe and efficient.
Through posture correction, one’s myofascia (muscles and their covering) is realigned. This relieves overburdened, painful (spasmic) muscles and brings about significant and lasting pain relief (almost instantaneously). It instantly reduces pressure from the discs, allowing them to be pulled back, thereby releasing pressure from the pinched nerves. Most significantly, posture treatment succeeds where conventional treatments fail, bringing new hope to the challenging orthopaedic conditions.
The author is an orthopaedic surgeon who believes in non-interventional restoration of orthopaedic health, largely through posture correction