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STRENGTH
Muscles
are very efficient at getting stronger or
weaker in response to the demands placed on
them. Since most of us sit at a desk, drive
a car, and sit on the sofa at home, many of
our muscles are not challenged.
Consequently, they become weak. At the same
time, the muscles that are constantly used
throughout the day become strong. This
imbalance of muscle strength contributes to
poor posture and chronic muscle tension.
Left unchecked, muscle imbalances tend to
get worse, not better, because of a
phenomenon called "reciprocal inhibition."
Reciprocal inhibition literally means
"shutting down the opposite." For all of the
muscles that move your body in one
direction, there are opposing muscles that
move the body in the opposite direction. In
order to keep these muscles from working
against each other, when the body contracts
one muscle group, it forces the opposing
group to relax -- it shuts down the opposite
muscles. When consistently only one set of
muscles is used, the opposing group, from
being continuously shut-down, is liable to
atrophy.
This
phenomenon is especially important to people
who work at a desk, because all day long the
same muscles in the upper back and chest
area of the body are used. This means that
all day long the body is essentially
shutting down the opposite muscles in the
middle back. Over time, the muscles in the
middle back become very weak because they
are not being worked like the muscles in the
front. This contributes to poor posture and
chronic muscle spasms and pain.
The easiest
way to correct this imbalance is to do
specific exercises which will increase the
strength of the back muscles, along with
manual therapy and chiropractic care. Once
the muscles in your middle back are strong,
the tightness and poor posture simply
disappear. |
