| Activity
Body Mechanics FOR STRENGTH & HEALTH BY JANELLE NORMAN, PT
A
s a physical therapist, I analyze how people are moving through space all day long. It actually comes very naturally to think of correct posture and how we move. My uncle, Ron Fuller (Shawnee), taught knapping courses in Spavinaw, Oklahoma for many years. He taught his students to hold their wrist a certain way and sit with proper posture so as not to cause an injury. His chipping stone used to make the arrowheads had to fit his hand just right so he did not have to work too hard. He had to sit carefully so that he did not cause a back injury and he used the larger muscles instead of the smaller hand muscles. Posture, like our Moms taught us, is important. Your posture is either upright, or not, according to how you sit or stand. The term “body mechanics” refers to your posture moving through space. Having correct posture during movement will prevent many injuries. A lot of our body’s energy every day goes towards bone building and bone tearing down. The way your bone lays down and reforms is directly correlated to the stresses put on it. Some common injuries we see in clinic from poor posture and body mechanics are carpal tunnel; low back pain and strains; and knee and ankle injuries, to name a few. Just sitting slumped can mimic carpal tunnel, which is a nerve entrapment of the wrists. This is common for people who sit in front of a computer for long periods. When you slump, you can pinch the nerve at the neck, mimicking carpal tunnel injuries. Sitting with poor posture can also cause undue stress on the neck muscles and upper back muscles, causing pain in the neck and upper back, sometimes radiating to the shoulder. Proper sitting posture is not difficult! Imagine sitting or standing fully upright, with your head as tall towards the ceiling as it can go, as if a string was pulling from the posterior part of the top of your head. This keeps the normal curves of your back aligned.
32
|
A M E R I C A N I N D I A N & A L A S K A N AT I V E L I V I N G
