“Did you know, more than 540 million people worldwide suffer from back pain”, asked Harmony Curtiss, Director for Healing Hands School of Holistic Health – Laguna Hills (Healing Hands). As a school of Holistic Health, we have a responsibility to educate students about how posture dramatically impacts their health. By teaching Students actionable measures to strengthen their own posture, they in turn help raise awareness among clients in our communities, she continued.
According to the Faculty at Healing Hands, strong posture is the key to moving with grace, ease and confidence. It is also key to avoiding pain and injury. In fact, studies show that focused exercise (for posture correction) combined with mindful meditation reduce pain and improve range of motion better than medications. More importantly, holistic strategies achieved desired results more frequently and with fewer negative health consequences.
May begins a month of campaigns that unite thousands of Therapists, Doctors, Physical Trainers and Health Educators. Intent on addressing the mind/body consequences of poor posture, they recommend the A-C-E posture model, developed by Dr. Steven Weiniger. An Internationally renown Posture Specialist, Dr. Weiniger encourages people to consider how their posture affects their overall health by emphasizing Awareness, Control and Environment.
Awareness is best accomplished by taking photos of yourself standing face forward to the camera and then in side-view. While most individuals ‘feel’ they are standing tall, a picture can help them recognize areas of weakness. These weaknesses can undermine how the body functions and contribute to muscle strain causing joint pain, limiting range of motion, and negatively impact our overall sense of wellness.
Control refers to the actionable strategies one can 
implement to increase strong posture. These include therapeutic stretches, postural practices, massage therapies, Chiropractic adjustments, physio-therapies, strengthening exercises as well as increased activity levels. Strong posture is the key to moving with ease and confidence while avoiding pain and injury. Studies also show that focused exercise and mindful meditation can reduce pain and improve movement better than pain medications and with far less negative health consequences.
Environment, or the creation of a posture-smart environment, refers to optimizing your home, work, play and sleeping environment to align each of your 4 posture zones. These zones include your head, which should be centered over your body, and the alignment of your torso, pelvis and legs.
Posture studies show that when integrated, these strategies can speed healing of injuries, relieve pain, restore musculo-skeletal balance, elevate mood, increase alertness, boost energy, and enhance one’s self-esteem. Conversely by allowing your bad posture to continue, one may experience increased pain which can lead to depression and contributes to headaches, lack of energy and a feeling of being drained and uninspired.
At Healing Hands, students are given the choice of a variety of posture enhancing courses, such as Therapeutic Stretching, Principals of Structural Integration, Neuro-muscular Therapies and Somatics to name a few. To learn more about Healing Hands and the 80+ Massage and Holistic Health classes offered, go online to www.HealingHandsSchool.com or call us at (858) 505-1100 in San Diego, (760) 746-9364 in Escondido, or (949) 305-2722 in Laguna Hills.