Bandwidth and muscle length as it relates to Postural Restoration

                     Recently I looked up the definition of the word " Bandwidth" in the dictionary. ( I had to, after being told in no uncertain terms by someone I considered a friend, that I lacked the bandwidth for a special undertaking)  Apart from the electronic world, bandwidth was defined as " the energy or mental capacity required to deal with a a situation" Now,for those of you who know me well, I think I have enough physical energy as I go about my day, so I guess my mental capacity must be in question :-) Well, I always try to make the most of any situation, so I wanted to see just what I could do with this one. It got me thinking about how in the Postural Restoration world, we come across muscles that do not have the capacity to work like they should because they are not in the correct "Position". They are either too long or too short due to altered position of the underlying bones. For instance, the left half of the pelvis tends to tip forward and orient to the right because of the weight of the liver on the right and a stronger, thicker right diaphragm leaflet. As a result, the hamstring attachment moves upwards on the left, placing the hamstring in a lengthened position. Now the lengthened hamstring has to work harder i.e requires more energy to do its job effectively. So basically, it does not have the "capacity" to do its job. Now , there is a solution to this problem in the Postural Restoration world.  Correcting the position of the underlying bone ( what the PRI world calls repositioning) can "facilitate" the muscle to work effectively and we can gain its "bandwidth" back. ( Now if only there was a similar solution for my lack of bandwidth!)

YES, WE ( PRI PTs) ARE DIFFERENT ! And there's a reason why...........

Blowing up balloons as part of your PT program? Never stretching your hamstrings? Or your IT band for that matter? Making sure your bite is correct? That your both your eyes can work together?  Can you feel your left heel and your right arch? And yes, not recommending that you sit up straight, its OK to slouch a little. These are some things we Postural Restoration trained PTs tell our patients all the time. Things you will never hear,  but in fact do ( like stretch those hamstrings or IT bands, sit up straight ) in a typical PT clinic. Been there, done that, trust me. Would never go back to that ccokie-cutter approach of if it feels tight, put some heat on it, massage/ultrasound it, and of course stretch it all you can. While you're at it, lets mobilize the joints. After all, its tight is'nt it? I was guilty of doing all that but it was more than ten years ago, before I discovered the world of Postural Restoration and Ron Hruska. This unique but biomechanically sound approach helped me find the answers to questions like "Why does this muscle always get tight?" "Why is it mostly tight on one side than the other?" Recognizing and learning through objective biomechanical testing about the inherent  and predictable asymmetry of the human body, it finally made sense to not treat the body the same way on the left as on the right. It also made sense why some problems were seen more often on one side vs the other and also why certain problems kept recurring no matter what you did.

 I can't imagine treating pain any other way knowing what I know now. Just can't  recommend stretching ( or for that matter strengthening) any muscle or joint without first making sure it is in the correct position. And just how do we do that? With some objective tests that reflect the position of the ribcage and the pelvis, demonstrating to the patient how the test results differ on each side of the body. For example, when lying on your back with the arm out to the side at a 90 degree angle, elbow bent to 90, if you try to get your palm ( facing down to your feet) towards the floor, the left hand will more than likely get all the way down, but not the right hand, unless you are one of those really loose-jointed individuals. Now if you mistakenly think that its because you are right handed and that right shoulder is  just tighter and start to stretch it out, without any respect for the underlying position, I can guarantee that in the long run, you will develop some laxity in that right shoulder and sooner or later have problems with it. Could be a costly mistake for a baseball pitcher! Yikes! How do PRI therapists address this problem ? By repositioning the pelvis and the ribcage with an exercise designed just to do that. More than likely you will be blowing up a balloon, getting air into that right chest wall, getting the ribcage down on the left. And magically, within five minutes or less, doing the same test, your right hand now goes down all the way! And we never even touched that shoulder! Fascinating, isn't it? Magical? Not really, we have a very scientific reasoning behind all this, trust me. The exercises are designed to reposition, restore and retrain the body to achieve more balance between the right and left side and then retrain the muscles in this newly found position to make them work as efficiently as possible. And the results literally speak for themselves! Think about it, would you build your house on a crooked foundation? Then why train your body on a torqued pelvis and spine?
 Want to learn more? Or just want to get relief  from a nagging pain issue? Just find a Postural Restoration Certified therapist near you today!
 For more information please also visit:
posturalrestorationinstitute.com
apexptposturalrestorationcenter.com