November 2012

Low Back Pain and Postural Alignment
By: Ken Baldwin, Executive Director, NPI

(Originally published in MOBILITY, Official Newsletter of the American Kinesiotherapy Association [AKTA])

Many Certified Posture Specialists™ deal with clients on a daily basis that may have low back pain.  Actual pain site locations in the low back may be related to discs between the vertebrae, ligaments that surround the spine/discs and sacrum, nerve impingement sites, and muscles of the low back to name a few.  Proper arrangement and position of each of the above locations is often the reason why your clients and even why the practitioner may begin to experience low back pain.  We must consider if proper posture and body alignment are implemented on a daily basis; many of the issues of low back pain could be mitigated or reduced all together.  

Posture positioning from the neck to the low back area or waist line undergoes different positions throughout the day. These activities may include long hours in a seated or static position while performing administrative work to twisting/rotating and flexing of the spine when having a client/patient perform dynamic movement patterns.  During these two different activities, our posture may not be in the correct position which can then begin to take a toll on the structures that we are trying to protect the most: discs, nerves, and muscles.  If we can understand the location of the current posture position for your clients; you can then implement a program of “Re-Training Posture” in your clients while they are in a static or dynamic position while you are bringing them back to health.  Remember, for your clients, as their posture begins to improve you should start to hear that their back pain issues are subsiding.  Theother benefits of better postural alignment for your clients will be improved balance and stabilization; thus reducing their chances of falling and getting a serious injury as they grow older.  

About the National Posture Institute
The National Posture Institute (NPI) is an educational and certificate organization that provides health and fitness educational programs, public outreach, corporate wellness, educational/assessment products, and professional certificate programs for allied health/medical/fitness professionals to become an
NPI-Certified Posture Specialists™.  To learn more about NPI go to:  www.npionline.org or email us at info@npionline.org

About the Author:

Ken Baldwin is a full-time Associate Professor at the State University of New York, Certified Posture Specialist™, and the Executive Director for The National Posture Institute (NPI). Ken is the Senior Editor, content expert, and lead author for ACSM’s Resources for the Personal Trainer Textbook (2nd Edition), former Chair of IDEA’s National Personal Trainer Committee, and served on national committees with organizations that include the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), AAHPERD, and the Medical Fitness Association (MFA).  Ken can be reached at ken@npionline.org