As a practicing Chiropractor since 2000, I am always looking for new technology to help me and my patients have a better outcome from our care. One of the newer technologies I added to our practice is a posture screen analysis application called ‘Posture Screen Mobile.’ This new “App” is an amazing tool that I can quickly show a patient what their structural alignment looks like. The way that it works is I take two photos with my Ipod, one front and one with the patient facing to the side. In about 2 minutes, I can use the program application to get an incredible objective analysis of the patient at that point in time. I can easily email the patient a full report of the evaluation immediately and also prescribe excersices to them. This Posture Screen Analysis is merely just one of the tools that I use to show patients the connection between the structure of their body and how it affects their health. For some people that come in our clinic, their body is in an antalgic, or painful state. This is due to a breakdown of normal biomechanics. or movement of the spine. In simpler terms, the body is leaning away from pain as much as possible in order to remain upright enough to come in to my office. It’s adapting. This process could have been going on for month or years with or WITHOUT the presence of pain. I like to explain to patients about a car being in good alignment in order to operate properly. Even if your car is a little out of line, you can still drive it. This is what many patients that I see are doing when they come in. Or some, come in when they are in crisis (pain). For the vast majority of patients I see initially, the actual problems have been there for years, maybe even decades. That is why so much pain medication and Tylenol is sold daily in this country. For many people, the slightest ache, pain, or headache, they simply go to their medicine cabinet and take something that masks the cause of pain. For too many people, this is their life. Chiropractic evaluation is at its best when it is not only looking at the patient’s symptoms, but attempting to correct the structure of the body, thus improving an essential aspect of health, optimal structural function. It is clear that good structural integrity (posture) is essential.
Have you ever seen an elderly person bent forward at the waist with a cane who is healthy? Did you know that this is not the way that human beings have to age if they keep themselves in alignment? Consider this quote regarding posture screen analysis from the Journal of the American Medical Association about posture:
Deviations in the body’s center of gravity caused poor posture, which resulted in intestinal problems, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, osteoporosis, hip and foot deformities, poor health, decreased quality of life, and a shortened life span.
Freeman JT., Posture in the Aging and Aged Body, ; 165(7),pp 843-846 JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)
When I combine technology like this Posture Screen Mobile, along with x-rays, hands on palpation of tissues, and my own experience in treating many patients in the last 13 years, I get a pretty good picture of what is going on. Often , patients are amazed to see themselves with a high hip, forward read posture, or generally out of balance. As opposed to other types of physicians, Chiropractors seek to restore the patients health by improving their alignment, thus improving function and maximizing wellness . Rather than prescribe medication, in my office we put all patients on an individualized plan of specific chiropractic adjustments, physiotherapy, and exercises that are specifically chosen through Posture Screen Mobile.
There are exciting new things to come in technology of posture screen analysis and I am super excited to share them with our patients. Call us if we can help you.
Marc Rogers, DC