What is Postural Restoration?
Postural Restoration is an innovative therapy that focuses on the influence of posture and correct body movement as the foundation for healthy living. Postural Restoration therapists assess postural imbalance and movement dysfunction in the areas of respiration, spinal orientation and postural alignment to treat the body as a whole. One cause of muscle imbalance and dysfunction is overusing and therefore overdeveloping muscles on our dominant side.
At Integration Physical Therapy, we follow the beliefs of the Postural Restoration Institute in Lincoln, NE as do 250 providers world wide. We believe in correcting improper movement patterns we acquire over time by restoring proper breathing, maximizing proper posture and position to improve function and eliminate strain, pain and prevent degeneration.
Posture is a reflection of how we position ourselves in space. It is a position we create to enable or inhibit our ability to breathe, rotate, and rest systematically with the left and right sides of the body. Good posture is our muscles holding all our joints in proper alignment and maintaining this relationship throughout functional activities.
We take into account the central nervous system and the input it receives from our muscles, vision, vestibular, and respiratory systems that result in our posture. Because of our total body approach, we have extensive advantages above and beyond traditional therapy for patients with any musculoskeletal dysfunctions.
Who can benefit from a Postural Restoration program?
A wide variety of people can benefit from Postural Restoration, including those with:
- Back Pain/Sciatica
- Scoliosis
- Hip Pain
- Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
- Breathing Difficulties
- Thoracic/Rib Pain
- Incontinence
- Post Mastectomy
- Frozen Shoulder
- Knee Pain
- Post Surgical
- Jaw/TMJ Pain
- Headache
- Neck Pain
- Gait & Balance Issues
- Sports Rehab and Performance Enhancement
What can I expect from a Postural Restoration program?
On your first visit you will receive a thorough biomechanical assessment. We will educate you on your posture and muscle imbalance that is contributing to your pain. Our first goal will be to restore your posture and position to promote normal mechanics. We will teach you how to correct your dysfunction by retraining your muscles, postures, and daily habits to stabilize your body for pain free function and activities.
This is a relearning process and will require a progression of exercises to rebuild muscles to restore balance in proper alignment through out your body and prevent injury. It takes time to build strength and once you have learned the correct principles and exercise techniques, we will spread out your visits to allow the appropriate physiological strengthening so we can progress your program to reach your optimal outcome.
This approach will save you money on copays and number of visits and your success will be dependent on your compliance. By the end of your program, you will have an individualized and functional home exercise program you can do anywhere to mange your body independently. You will improve your awareness of posture and body mechanics to work, play and live with less pain and get you back to your activities you love to do.
