My Patients’ Incredible Posture Results
Clients and pupils are always asking me about the latest amazing diet, posture correction tool, or fitness fad. These programs often become popular because they are presented and marketed very well. The marketing campaigns use testimonials and before-and-after transformation photos. That’s one reason I was cautious about including a before-and-after photo section. But as I’ve created this with you and from your ideas and proposals, I’ve decided to add a few of the many remarkable patient transformation photos.
This patient came to me with real concern about her posture. She said it was as if her chest was almost resting on her stomach. Even to the untrained eye, you can see something had really gone wrong. When we took her lumbar X-rays, her spine was shifted so far backward (this we call a posterior translation) that her abdomen had no choice but to jut forward. I assured her that this wasn’t an abdominal problem, but in fact a structural spinal issue. Six months of daily home rehab and in-clinic traction moved her spine back into position, and she was thrilled with the result. She felt and looked a good deal younger, and her tears (and mine) confirmed her delight.
I’ll never forget Daphne. She came to me almost certain nothing could be done for her, but wanted to know what was wrong with her neck. Daphne’s forward head posture was so severe that when we took X-rays, they showed that the lower four neck vertebrae had fused together, after so many years with extreme forward head posture. Sadly, I had to explain the reality of the situation to her. I told her we could not change the fusion, but that we could use fairly aggressive traction to prevent the healthy vertebra from moving further forward. For several years, we worked to prevent further decline in health. Her forward head posture did not get any worse, and she regained some mobility. Her positive outlook always amazed me – she never missed doing her exercises and only wished she had begun several decades sooner.
This 35-year-old man came to me wondering if working on his posture could help his chronic hay fever. Before we started treatment, he had 43mm of forward head posture. So we agreed that we would begin a program of adjustments in clinic and home exercises for his forward head posture and simply monitor any change to his hay fever. He wasn’t happy living on antihistamines. He worked hard on his posture and made a 50% structural improvement in just a few months. His hay fever dramatically improved, and he was happy to continue the home rehab on his own.
This male rugby player came to me with headaches. He recalled many traumatic head injuries playing rugby as a young man, so we, of course, took X-rays. I’m glad that we did. His past traumas had caused a reversed neck curve (kyphosis – left image), and the kink had started to cause arthritis at the 5th and 6th levels. You can see the narrowing of the spaces between the bones, and also the start of mild bone spurs. His neck was huge and strong and stiff, and I wasn’t certain we’d have a good outcome, but he was really motivated and did his rehab exercises and home traction that I’d prescribed. After a few intense months, we took a post-treatment X-ray, and his results were incredible. Straightening a bent spine is not easy. A reversed curve with arthritis is even more difficult to improve. His hard work paid off, and he completely straightened his spine. He could easily continue to work on his posture with the view of putting some curve back into his neck. This was an amazing day in practice!
Perhaps one of the most remarkable structural transformations I ever saw was with this 24-year-old female patient, Gabrielle. Gabby came to see me a couple of months after a car accident. She was getting severe daily headaches, and the only treatment she was offered was medication, and she said she was certain something was wrong. We took an x-ray (as I always do, when I see forward head posture, neck hump, and a history of trauma. She had a very obvious cervical kyphosis – her neck kinked dramatically between the 4th and 5th vertebra. Because Gabby was so young and had come to me soon after her car accident, there was no visible arthritis. She was so incredibly motivated and never missed her daily exercises. Two weeks after she began her rehab exercises, her headaches stopped. 6 months later, with no remaining forward head posture, we decided to take a post x-ray, and the results were probably the best I’ve ever seen. Gabby’s neck curve was almost perfectly restored! We both cried, and I told her she never needed to do her neck rehab exercises again! Of course, she was going to keep up her full-body Posturecise for health, but she didn’t need to do the specialized rehab exercises any longer.
There was one issue, one bugbear, one total frustration throughout my chiropractic training and many years that followed. I hated my posture. This drove me to distraction. I was ashamed to be a chiropractor with bad posture.
I tried everything. I trained with top posture experts, and I even qualified with a fellowship in the Clinical Biomechanics of Posture (another two years on top of the first five). I had X-rays taken of my neck, and they confirmed what I feared: I had developed forward head posture, just like my mum!
Free Posture Video Crash Course!
One morning I woke and looked at my posture in the mirror and this day I saw something different. The penny dropped. All along I’d been telling my patients to look at their WHOLE body. I wanted them to understand that they didn’t have just a low back problem, a shoulder problem or a knee problem or a neck problem but a problem with the posture of their body as a whole. I’d forgotten my own Golden Rule.
This moment may just have changed my life because it was at this moment that I began creating posture videos. My posture obsession is now my full-time devotion. It’s now my absolute mission to help people obtain upright, attractive posture that inspires confidence!
