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Youth Posture: Use the PostureJac to Overcome Poor Habits
 Do you have kids who slouch? This family photo shows how posture patterns are often observable in families. Is this a case of structural heredity or is it habits? The good news is that it can be overcome. The PostureJac to show them how to change.
Younger people can change and adapt more quickly than adults. They are shaped by their activity (or lack therof) as well as their perceptions, emotions and role models. The PostureJac is a great way to teach them how to adjust to stand straight and tall.
Their appearance, self confidence and improve. Clothes will fit better. They will have more energy and less injuries from activities.
Mental & Emotional Distortion leads to Postural Distortion & Muscle Imbalances of 640 muscles & vice versa!
Our thanks to Vanessa Newman, contributor to Ehow for these insights about the posture differences between youth and adults.
- Proportionately, children have larger heads relative to their body and put more pressure on their cervical spine (neck). Their necks have to withstand more force.
- Children are more likley to sustain soft tissue injuries and damage near growth plates.
- There is greater flexibility but more risk of injury to the spinal cord.
- "When adults are tired, they tend to slow down and walk more slowly with a shorter stride. Children do not. They keep going and continue to take big steps, but they drop their heads and slump through the shoulders. Adults under stress do not stand as tall, and they slouch when seated. But children, especially those not in school yet, do not hold extra tension in the muscles, and tey usually demonstrate much better posture than adults."
Health care professionals report alarming increases in the frequency of young people experiencing headaches, chronic chronic neck, shoulder and back pain, numbness, weakness, shortness of breath and postural deformities. Added to this is the increasing trend in execessive weight gain and poor physical stamina.
We are all becoming more sedentary and configured around computer screens and PDA's. According to the NIelson Company USA (October 2010) the average 13-17 year old sends 3,339 texts a month. Inactivity decreases calorie burning and muscle condition. It's no secret that the weight, shape,alignment and self esteem are critical issues for young people today.
In a period of rapid height and weight gain, it is critical that the body stabilty develops that can support the increasing load. A strong back involves more than a strong spine. Stability in the hips, core, shoulder and neck requires development and conditioning to all muscles. There is more to good posture than the traditional reminder, "get your shoulders back and your head up".
If it is necessary to be sedentary, become aware of your body position (kinaesthetic awareness). Learn to resist slouching and mobilize while you are sitting. This is the time in life where emotional state and physical state are linked through self peception and self esteem.
Poor posture causing extended strain and pressure in the neck and shoulders affects sleep, irratability, concentration and energy levels. Their development is influenced by their activities but they are more adaptive to change. Ongoing stress causes the fascia to shorten, thicken and deform. A lot of expense for intervention, rehabilitation and medication can be saved by addressing the root problem in early development.
 Young high performance athletes may also be at risk. Posture is not just an issue for passive, sedentary youth. It can also affect young people who are heavily involved in sports. Swimming is a classic example, but it is a factor in other sports. Rounded shoulders posture iscommonly observed among young competitive swimmers who have a high fitness level.
In a sport where outcomes are measured in hundredths of seconds, alignment in the neck and back is a factor for maximizing performance. In addition, rounding of the shoulders changes the angles for rotation. It can create microtraumas to the shoulder joints.
In a sport where each workout involves thousands of strokes, the shoulder joint is at risk. As simmers at or approaching national level, Jessie and Mitch are good examples.
There may be immediate issues with shoulder pain and performance but the latent effect to their alignment and joint strain may a reality decades later. Former competitive swimmers can be subject to shoulder pain and swayback.
The problem is critical and most preventable in these formative years when habits become embedded, physical development is rapid and self image is establishing. Thankfully it is also the time in life when change can be most readily corrected and embraced.
"My yoga teacher said I had the most improved posture in my group. The PostureJac really helped."
Mitchel MacLean, competitive swimmer
"We have been using and distributing the PostureJac to a number of patients in our facility. The PostureJac is a myofascial, postural re-education, strengthening and stretching device wrapped into one.
We have high school and college athletes, geriatrics and adolescents with scoliosis/kyphosis, post-surgical spinal/shoulder patients using the device. Old and young, athletic and sededentary, all have benefitted from using the PostureJac. Post-op patients have found the Posture-Jac as a less invasive self stretching/unloading/posture correcting device.
We have seen the device impact forward head-forward shoulder posturing, decrease pains related to shoulder impingements, lessen headaches and neck related pains. The PostureJac is a great addition to our practice and our patients are definitely seeing improvements."
Frank Zic, DPT
" Since all fascia and other connective tissue is continuous throughout the body, any distortions that develop in one region can postentially cause fascial deformation elsewhere." Steven Goldstein
Change Habits in Formative Years
Given the right attitude, change is so much easier in youth. Structures are less rigid with less fibrous tissue development, strength can build more rapidly, and new skills can be internalized more readily. Young people quickly learn new skillls such as text messaging, video games, physical skills, languages, music.
At the same time, they adapt to these same dominant activities as they spend extended time in poor positions that become normalized in their perception of posture. Struggles with self esteem and body image with regards to weight, height and maturation at puberty are also reflected in their common body posture.
Young people who are activlely involved in sports can also be at risk of imbalanced physical development and poor posture. Swimming is one example of increased imbalance between anterior/posterior strength that causes rounded shoulders posture development.
Should posture be included in the Health and Physical Education Curriculum? Correction is relatively quick and easy among young people by educating and skills development. There is good reason to give more attention to sensory education for long term life skills, rather than competitive sports.
If you are an educator, consider including postural education as a vital part of your health curriculum along with nutrition and healthy activity. The PostureJac is an excellent tool to recognize and find a normal alignment that establishes long term healthy body position.
Young people quickly learn to internalize the shoulders down - spine up mechanism from the PostureJac. It reduces strain in the shoulders and neck. If carrying a backpack for long periods of time is unavoidable, consider the PostureJac as a wonderful stabilizer for the back and putting the body in ideal carrying position. Visit the Travel and Backpacking page for more details on how the PostureJac can prevent the negative effects of backpacks on adolescents.
The Benefits are Enormous
Physical, mental and emotional health have a special link in young people. Self confidence, emotional health, social interaction, resistance to bullying, job interviews and employment, career choices, relationships are all impacted by our posture.
Check out the Articles of Interest on the Links and Brochures page under Children and Adolescents.
  
People who experience low back pain and spinal instability can feel the comfort and stability with the PostureJac as they bend and sit.
Like many young people, Daniel's development was at risk because of his rounded shoulders. Attention to his posture has resulted in good alignment and athletic ability in his late teens and in his early twenties.
Brief training and stretching periods can provide a guide to good posture during this critical developmental period. The PostureJac can be easily worn for occasional stretches. It is possible to change postural habits by creating awareness and teaching a stategy for good posture. This is a great tool for education and awarenessz
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