Our bodies haven’t changed for hundreds of thousands of years, but our environment has changed drastically. We weren’t designed to sit at a computer for hours each day. We weren’t designed to live sedentary lifestyles driving cars and watching a self driving vacuum cleaner to the work for us.  We weren’t designed to do repetitive movements that are involved in our work and in hobbies.

We were designed to walk, run, jump, crawl, climb, twist, and bend, and use our bodies more in everyday life. The old saying goes, if we don’t use it, we lose it. This is true about the musculoskeletal system. Since our environment lacks the stimulus we need to stay healthy, we need to create that stimulus for ourselves through corrective exercises to wake up those sleeping muscles and stretch short and tight muscles.

If you aren’t addressing the WHY (or the root cause) every treatment or modality only has short term relief. Our coaches will help you to focus less on the symptoms (the site of the pain), and will help you focus and address the underlying issue. For example, if your back hurts, that’s a symptom, a signal from your brain that something is not functioning as it was designed. The cause of the pain might have nothing to do with the health of your back, but may entirely be a result of the positioning of your hips. It’s the position, not the condition that really matters! Focussing on the site of pain, without looking at the whole body as a unit and how the joints are aligned, will be a long, endless road. Since muscles move bones, your hips (in this example) can be easily repositioned back to a neutral position and the pain will go away naturally.

The first step in a posture session is to learn about your story, your symptoms, your history, and to set goals for your therapy. The second step involves the assessment, where a posture coach takes your posture photos to analyze your body in three planes of motion. This will help the coach and yourself identify problem areas of your posture and focus areas for your corrective exercise routine. The coach will also analyze your gait and ability to perform certain movements. The coach will then instruct you on your new routine, to make sure you understand how to perform each exercise correctly. The coach observes and listens intently during the process to learn how your body is responding and adapts the program accordingly. If you have any questions between appointments via email, we are here to help to tweak your program.

We don’t touch or manipulate your body like a chiropractor or massage therapist would. It is our goal to give you the education and tools needed to be your own healer and to be your own posture mechanic. This provides our clients with a sense of confidence and control over their health, as they no longer depend on anyone else to resolve their symptoms. This also means the effects are more long-term since your body is strengthening and repositioning itself consistently over time into a new, normal posture, rather than relying on short term external forces such as an adjustment. This hands-off approach makes remote appointments possible making therapy more accessible regardless of location (or a global pandemic).

Posture therapy is appropriate for people of all ages and athletic abilities. The exercises range from easy to challenging based on the client’s mobility levels. No one has perfect posture so everyone can benefit.

While the benefits of the therapy can be noticed very quickly, often immediately in the first session, it does take time to see true, lasting results. Thirty years of poor movement patterns can’t be fixed in 30 minutes. You are expected to do your 15-20 minute routine daily for eight weeks to consistently reinforce the proper joint positioning and healthy movement patterns so the effects are real and long term. We understand it can be difficult to create this new daily habit. We advise against starting the program until you are able to make the time and are ready to make a serious commitment for your health.

Yes, Spiral Health draws on evidence-based theory and research in the fields of physical therapy, bio-mechanics, kinesiology, osteopathy, sports sciences, and fitness to deliver a non-medical, non-pharmaceutical, exercise-based intervention to address chronic pain and optimize human movement.