 Poor posture not only causes forward head carriage, it drags you down. The more out of balance, the greater the downward pull from gravity. If you are overweight, the load and stress on your spine is even greater.
Posture restoration usually focuses on correcting the forward head carriage and rounded shoulders position. "Head up, shoulders back" may correct your horizontal profile, but not the vertical. The PostureJac encourages upward stretching to make you taller and increase vertical strength.
Elevate through your head like it's been done through the ages!
Humans have used their heads to transport loads since ancient times. This would cause serious damage if the body were not balanced, stable and vertical. The trunk and neck can generate the upward force needed to lift large loads. Notice the lowered shoulders (say no to shrugs) as they lift.
 People who transport loads this way (70% of body weight or more), are known for their exceptional grace and posture habits. In a sense they have developed their addiction to good posture. Anything less would cause injury and disability.
"Contrast the serenity and relaxed demeanor of the African women despite coping with mixed spinal loading. Balancing the head load ensures that the column is well aligned while also activating balanced antigravity responses."
Josephine Key, Back Pain: A Movement Problem, A Clinical Approach Incorporating Relevant Research and Practice. Edinburgh: Churhill Livingstone; 2010, p 268.
Is it necessary to carry heavy loads like this to produce this conditioning? In fact, a typical head weighs 10 - 14 pounds. In forward head carriage, gravity is pulling it down and causing sagging and compression. To counter this downward gravitational pull, the body must lift against this pull and find a balancing axis around the spine.
The unique design of the PostureJac develops a similar kind of balancing action. Muscles throughout the neck and trunk work together to generate upward force. The result is better vertical strength and posture.
"Gravity is the therapist." ...Ida Rolf
Balanced lifting against gravity improves your body condition. Many structures like the tensegrity displayed below demonstrate how gravity can assist in maintaining balance and strength.
The key is proper skeletal balance rather than relying on muscle strength. Bony structures must effectively align through muscle coordination. Through these actions an upward spinal force is generated (see spinal corkscrew principle).
 Floating Bones: Tensegrity distributes the load and reduces stress on the spine
Good vertical posture holds the whole body in a dynamic tension sustained by gravity. Architect Buckminister Fuller used the term "tensegrity" for his free-standing structural designs like these that seem to defy gravity. (photo courtesy of Andy Payne, LIFT Architects).
Highly respected for his analysis of living anatomy, Thomas Myers, author of Anatomy Trains, uses tensegrity to explain how tensions in our muscles and connecting fascia develop efficient structure, and even the distribution of forces.
Functional tensegrity in good posture utilizes tension in body tissues to hold parts apart and reduce pressure on the compression elements such as the spine. Distributing the load around the trunk allows our body to move and protect our organs without collapsing or crushing injuries. A stabilized core minimizes the  load on each component, including the spine. The load on the spine increases when tensegrity is weakened.
Would you like to optimize your height by preventing or reversing sagging posture?
You may have noticed, or people may have commented on your declining height. Perhaps you have seen it in others, even your own kids. Your realize that there should be more height there if you could only stand straight.
Try This: The PostureJac doesn't use magic to stretch your spine to and make you taller.
- Stand up and depress your shoulders like this example.
- Stretch your neck to lift your head.
- Notice what happens to your posture. Chances are you look and feel taller, lighter and stronger! You will likely feel more stable and in less pain too!
Or
- While you are lying on a flat surface like a bed, with your hands at your side, try moving your shoulders toward your waist.
- Chances are you will feel your head moving in the opposite direction. This is the spinal lift.
What if you could maintain that practice throughout your life? You woundn't need the PostureJac. Most of us give up long before the addictions to the old posture mindset have been displaced by better practices and habits. We're so inconsistent in our actions. No wonder the body forgets!
Let the PostureJac help you develop those habits with consistent repetition of mobility pathways. You will notice your body changing over time and your sensitivities to your own posture and those around you will grow.
This page offers explanations, demonstrations and models of the unique action prompted by the PostureJac. See how it uses gravity to promote spinal lift, vertical posture and tensegrity in the body.
Please check out the video demonstrations and research findings below.
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"My PostureJac arrived just after I had finished a six-hour drive in a small rented car. Slipping on the PostureJac to give it a try, I pulled my shoulder muscles down into a relieving stretch, and automatically 'jacked' my spine up back into its normal length. Now, when I come home from long plane trips, PostureJac gets a workout before I do.
PostureJac is a well-designed piece of equipment, that can be used for different exercises, but the primary one is in my opinion the best and most unique: using downward pressure on the shoulders to create upward movement in the thoraco-lumbar spine. PostureJac has an immediate 'why didn't I think of this?' feel to it, restoring length and freedom to a compressed spine when you don't have access to competent individualized bodywork."
Thomas Myers, Author of Anatomy Trains (Elsevier 2001, 2009), www.anatomytrains.com
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