Posture & Body Mechanics

Image 1: My mom watching TV.

   

Image 2: Her washing the dishes.

Image 3: Her playing with my dog, Nova. 

    

    My mom, Mandy, is pictured above partaking in some of her daily occupations. For this post, I will be analyzing the second image where my mom is shown washing the dishes. In this position, she has her head looking down towards the sink (cervical flexion), her scapulae are protracted, and her thoracic spine is experiencing a slight kyphosis due to her looking down at the cup she is washing. As for her trunk, her pelvis is slightly anteriorly tilted; while her femurs are internally rotated. 

    

    This position creates a small base of support (BOS), which hinders proper stability, but does allow for mobility within the upper extremities. Because of the small BOS, this position allows for quick movements within the arms and shoulders in order to be able to grab the next dish or to turn off the faucet. This posture does not support proper joint alignment due to the strain on the neck from looking down at the sink. My mom could not stay in this position for longs amounts of time due to neural issues associated with her Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis, so in order to wash dishes she must frequently adjust her weight from foot to foot and take breaks to stretch her neck (but she usually just makes me do them). 

    

    It is essential to teach the importance of a healthy alignment to clients with improper/poor posture to improve their quality of life by ensuring that they not only can participate in occupations that hold importance to them, but also to ensure that they can complete their activities of daily living (ADL's) such as self-care or common household chores. For interventions with these clients, I would educate them on the importance of correct posture and show them ways to achieve sufficient alignment. For one possible intervention, I would guide my client through some gentle yoga poses, to the best of their ability, that facilitate proper posture, such as a "warrior 1 pose" or "prayer pose". Another possible intervention would be instructing my client to sit with a small pillow in their chair to properly support their spinal curves.

                     

     

Pose 1: Warrior 1

  Image retrieved from https://www.yogaalignmentguide.com/virabhadrasana-i-warrior-1-pose

                

    

            Pose 2: Prayer  

             Image retrieved from https://yogaholism.com/prayer-pose-benefits-steps-precautions/