Tweaks Two—how to fix them!
Mar 03, 2022
I was in for a shock the first time a physical therapist snapped my picture to check my posture.
At the time, in my mid 20’s, I suffered from chronic lower back, shoulder, and neck pain, and migraine headaches.
She showed me how my pelvis tilted forward, knees were locked, and shoulders rolled forward. How my low back took the brunt of the strain, and then my very sore shoulders had trigger points that shot up into my head.
Fascinated, I tried to make sense of how to unwind myself!
Wanting to learn more about the body, I enrolled in massage school.
I was trained to assess a client’s posture when they walked in for a session to get insight into their pain patterns.
How did their knees, hips, shoulders, neck, and head stack and move? These assessments were puzzles, with lots of common themes and interesting variations.
A weak core, for example, will often cause lower back pain, but it may also lead to tightness in the shoulders or jaw, and many other pain or tweaky patterns. Each person has their own spin on it, depending on their movement habits.
Releasing tight muscles, I would give my clients relief that they loved. Ahhh. Sadly, though, the relief wouldn’t last that long! Back again they would come with the same issues. Truly desiring to help people, I found this pretty frustrating.
Eventually, though, I had a client who was into strength training.
Kyle applied my observations about his postural weaknesses and pain patterns and designed training for himself.
Exercising between our sessions to strengthen his weak links, Kyle also grew in awareness of how he used his body in regular activities.
Together, we looked at his progress week to week, and kept fine tuning his exercises.
As Kyle’s posture straightened up before my eyes, his chronic pain tapered off, for good! So satisfying!
That experience was one of many that led me, years later, to become a personal trainer. I love how resistance training strengthens and shapes the body!
Want to explore this on your own? Take pictures of yourself from the front, side, and back.
Look for areas of sagging, knees coming in or going out, pelvis tilted forward or back, head jutting forward, shoulders rounded, or uneven.
The key is cultivating curiosity, rather than criticism or hopelessness.
The body is amazingly resilient, and change is easier than you might think. If you are mystified by what you see, send me your pics, and we can look at them together!
Most people need to strengthen their backs to pull their shoulders down and back, and activate their cores to pull the pelvis into the right position.
Month by month, I see even stubborn postural patterns begin to correct themselves. Sagging, inactive muscles activate and strengthen. Tight, spasming muscles will begin to relax.
When balanced, the muscles will pull the segments of your body into the correct position!
Once the process starts, coupled with awareness of how you hold yourself during the day, you will begin to form new habits, and the new posture sticks. Chronic tweaks begin to go away!
Again, it does boil down to mindset. If you say:
I am old,
it’s too late,
It’s too hard
All my family has_______pain, so of course I do too,
Then, you’re likely going to give up.
If you get curious and say:
Pain doesn’t cut it for me,
I am not done yet,
Maybe I don’t have to live with this
I’m going to find a way,
Then, you will find solutions.
Funny thing is, it’s really up to us what we decide! If you are reading this, your story ain’t over yet!
Know someone who might like this? Pass it on!
