Postural Braces

Postural Braces

 

Many, if not all of my clients require postural education and training.  Posture seems to play a major role in most therapy conditions, especially shoulder, neck and lower back pain.  For the most part, I find myself constantly reminding clients to tuck their chin and retract their shoulders.  This "nagging" leads my clients to the question, "Can't I just buy a brace to keep me in proper posture?"  The answer is "yes, you can."  Here are two pictures of postural braces.

 

 

This brace appears to retract the shoulders/scapula and probably provides a sense of lower back support (I said a "sense" of support, not actual support").  Since many of my clients have the rounded anterior shoulder positioning, the chest muscles become tight, and the rear shoulder/scapula muscles become stretched out and weak.  The brace shown above pulls the shoulders back, stretching the chest and shortening the rear shoulder muscles.  But what happens when you remove the brace? Will the rear shoulder muscles now be strong enough to maintain the scapula retracted position against the anterior pull of the chest?  Probably not.  In my opinion, these braces are "quick fixes" that do not fix the source of the problem.  It is a superficial correction.  My goal is to have my clients rely on their own body to maintain proper body alignment.  Postural muscles work isometrically.  The posterior shoulder muscles must maintain the proper shoulder position throughout the day.  In short, you must stretch the pecs, and strengthen the shoulder/scapula retractors (muscle endurance).  I would only consider using a postural brace on a patient who has had chronic postural deformities, as the brace will assist in statically stretching muscles that have shortened over time.  I would still always include active strengthening to the affected postural muscles.  For my younger patients, I say: "Don't be lazy! Do the work! Stretch what needs to be stretched and strengthen what needs to be strengthened!"  Just maintaining proper posture as often as you can throughout your day is an exercise in itself.   

 

For the S.O.D. DVD on Posture & Body Mechanics, go to Posture & Body Mechanics DVD for over 80 minutes of educational videos