YouTube Video on posture education - humorous -Posture Pals,
Children And Posture Webpage (Schools, education, prevention and treatment) ©
Postural deformity in a young child caused by rickets which results from vitamin D deficiency.
A Humorous YouTube POSTURE EDUCATION VIDEO Avis Films Inc. (2008) Posture Pals, YouTube video, with assistance from The Burbank Unified School District and The Los Angeles City School Districts Health Services Branch, Corrective Physical Education Section; This humorous video provides a useful account of the teaching of posture in schools of the past. Note that the teacher was wearing high heel shoes, and a tight waisted dress which would have adversely affected her own posture and health. The recognition of the importance of posture education has varied from insignificant to crucial from teacher to teacher, school to school, country to country, and decade to decade for the past 100 years, reflecting the differences of opinion relating to the lack of absolute proof about the relationship between cause and effect.
This relates to the fact that human anatomy is covered by a layer of skin, so children and adults cannot see the internal function of the body. It would therefore be useful if someone could produce an animated 3D YouTube video of the changing shape of internal organs when the person has different postures - kyphosis, scoliosis, or lordosis, and long, narrow, flat, or receding chests, and what happens when the sternum has a forward or reverse angle when the person leans forward at the waist or hips, and what happens when the person slouches and the spine and sternum twists as the hand moves from left to right, and down as they write, and what happens when they wear high heel shoes. and compress their waist with tight waisted belts or corsets.
The most important thing that parents and teachers can do for the future health of their children . . . is to ensure that they develop properly shaped spines, broad chests, and forward angled breastbones, because this will provide them with a large chest space in which the heart, lungs, and stomach can function freely and at peak efficiency, and that will more likely result in a healthy life in adulthood. By contrast if the child is allowed to develop a stooped spine, a narrow chest, and a vertical breastbone, the ribcage will be small, and the heart, lungs, and stomach will be crowded and impeded in their function, and this will more likely lead to sickness in adulthood. M.B. Plato's men were "broad shouldered, full, square, and somewhat strong, and mighty men"
Reference: Anthropometamorphosis (1650), p. 281"Mens sana in corpore sano" was the motto of the ancient Greeks; and the experience of everyday shows that the person with strong muscles and good digestion, with fair intellectual abilities, is the one who wins the goal in the strife for wealth and fame and all that men seek after, and the same is also true of women.
'A sound mind in a sound body' is as necessary for assured success in life in the nineteenth century as when the sentiment was first inscribed upon the gates of the temples in ancient Greece."
From: The Ladies Guide (1904) p. 236"The Doctor of the future will give no medicine,
but will interest his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease."
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)
The Age-old Dispute About Posture And Health For generation after generation the importance of the relationship between posture and health has been in dispute.
Some parents have been telling their children stop leaning on their elbows at the meal table, while others have said 'stop nagging the children . . . if they want to slouch, let them slouch.' At school many teachers have told their students to 'sit up straight and pay attention', while others have argued that children should be allowed to sit in any way that is natural for them, rather than being forced to adopt 'a standard postural mould'.
Some army administrators have argued that soldiers with good posture have good character, temperament, courage and endurance, and have impelled their sergeants to train new recruits to stand tall, 'with their stomachs drawn in, their chests thrown out, and their heads held high.'
In the nineteenth century some doctors were arguing that slouching compressed the internal organs and caused many ailments, whereas others were arguing that as soon as the patient sat up straight again the internal organs would simply spring back to their normal position with no ill effect.
The Posture Theory began as a way of explaining that poor posture was indeed a cause of many aches and pains, but now as a book in its 11th edition there is an additional objective of bringing this dispute to an end. With a thousand pages of evidence to support the theme there can no longer be any doubt that the development and maintenance of good posture in childhood and adulthood is essential for good health.
The Posture Theory And Education Many teachers are interested in the future health of their students, and are aware of the importance of good posture, but find it difficult, if not impossible, to convince their students to sit correctly.
It is therefore necessary to understand why some children slouch, and what sort of persuasive information is likely to be effective.
Disease such as rickets soften the bones of many babies who then sag under the weight of their own body and sometimes develop mild spinal curvatures which persist. However any prolonged disease, especially one which produces a loss of apetite, or any period of starvation or poor nutrition during childhood can weaken their bones and have a similar effect.
Similarly if the child spends every night sleeping in a bed which is flat and soft the bones of their spine will take on their proper shape, but if they spend 8 hours each night sleeping in a spring mesh bed or a hammock their spine will take on the shape of a C-curve, especially if their bones have also been weakened and made malleable by disease.
A few years later when these children start attending school and try to sit upright they are therefore trying to straighten their bent spinal bones with their spinal muscles which soon become fatigued and uncomfortable, so the student gives up and slouches.
These students need to have flat, well cushioned bedding which will contribute to the process of straightening their bones while they are still malleable, and they will need to be provided with ergonomically designed chairs and desks to assist in the prevention of any further deformity.
Other factors which contribute to poor posture are poor eyesight which induces a student to lean close to their desk to see the text in their books, and tallness, where the child has to stoop down to do his bookwork. These problems can be prevented by providing spectacles where necessary, and by providing seating and desks which are appropriate for the students size.
Another important problem to consider, is the fact that students only see themselves when they look in the mirror, so they only see the front view, where a slouched spine is not apparent. Therefore they can be asked specifically to look at themselves in the mirror sideways. They should also be shown how to recognise clues to poor posture, such as the sloping effect it has on the shoulders, and they can be informed about the uneven height of shoulders, or the sliding of their collar to one side of their neck which give evidence of sideways curvatures of the spine which would otherwise not be perceived.
Students will also need to be told, in a convincing way, of the harmful effects of poor posture, so that they cooperate with suggestions to improve their posture. For example, they need to be made aware of the fact that poor posture in childhood results in spinal deformity and other health problems in adulthood, and that it is much easier to prevent these than trying to treat them later. In this regard photos of deformed spines, and diagrams of the internal anatomy being crushed under a stooped back would be useful.
The promotion of good posture and the importance of correcting bad posture were important aspects of education according to Alexander Leeper who was an advocate of The Alexander Technique which was devised by Frederick Matthias Alexander about 100 years ago. Alexander Leeper was also the principal of The Trinity College of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, which he developed as a role model for other colleges associated with Melbourne University, and he was chairman of a Committee on Physical Culture for the Victorian Teachers and School Registrations Board, and he recommended the teaching of The Alexander technique as being a compulsory part of school curriculums. His advocacy was based on the benefits of the technique on his own health but his recommendation was not implemented.
For More Information For more general information about posture: http://www.covellichiro.com/
For improving posture: The Alexander Technique http://www.alexander technique.com (this website provides links to many other sites dealing with the subject of posture and health).
You are invited to link to this webpage bp http://users.chariot.net.au/~posture/ChildrenAndPosture.html/
1. More on the cause of poor posture