How to maintain Balanced Posture: Biomechanical Understanding by Neeraj Mehta (Ph.D., Human Biomechanics & Alternative Medicine)
What is Balance | State of Equilibrium
In a state of equilibrium, two opposing forces are equal in strength and cancel each other out, resulting in a stable condition. According to biomechanics, a person’s ability to maintain a stable postural position while maintaining a stable body’s line of gravity within the base of support is what is meant by the term “balance.” Both injuries and performance are affected by an athlete’s ability to maintain balance. It is possible to fall and injure yourself if you don’t retain your footing.
What is posture?
The way a person positions their body whether standing or sitting or in other words “the posture refers to the present position of the body”. An optimum posture is characterised by stability, minimum localised tissue tension, and low energy expenditure. Our posture is continually moving in order to allow us to move, change the strain on tissues, and maintain stability. Good posture may be achieved with good balance. The capacity to regulate and maintain your body’s position, as well as your posture and movement, is improved via the practice of balance exercises. All the positions of the body’s joints are summed up in posture. Maintaining body segments’ stability in the face of stressors that endanger their structural integrity is called postural control.
What is posture in the best possible way?
Lower Body Position in the ideal Posture
Postural abnormalities in the lower body are commonly examined in relation to what is referred to as “normal” or “optimal” posture, which shows little torque at the body’s primary joints. In the sagittal plane, the gravity line is located anterior to the ankle joint, causing a dorsiflexion moment in the ankle that must be countered by a plantar flexion moment. There is a knee extensor moment due to a line of gravity descending anterior to the knee. Since our knees are locked in the upright position, this extension is prevented by passive tension in the posterior knee ligaments, which does not need muscular effort. There is a hip extensor moment that is balanced by the passive tension of the iliofemoral ligament, which does not need any muscular effort to perform.
Upper Body Position in the ideal Posture
There is a lot of emphasis on good spinal posture in the upper body. The best posture is one in which the line of gravity crosses the middle of the trunk. In the sagittal plane, gravity passes through the vertebral bodies of the cervical and lumbar regions before reaching the thoracic region. In this position, the thoracic area is most strained, and the goal is to further curve the thoracic region. In order to offset the gravitational force, the back extensors must be activated, which means that the ligamentous structures and passive muscular tension are inadequate.
Injuries Caused by Bad Posture
A faulty posture’s side effects include slouching or slumping. In addition, there are physical repercussions
Messages from the sciatic nerve are impeded when you have poor posture, which puts stress on your muscles and bones. Sciatica, which is characterized by pain down the back of the thigh, calves, and foot, may develop over time in certain individuals.
The lower back muscles, especially the posterior chain, are placed under a lot of strain by poor posture. You may develop hyperlordosis in the long run if you have a weak core, which weakens your hip stability and extension.
The surgical spine, shoulders, and neck are all placed under a lot of stress by constantly looking down at a computer or cell phone.
Fluids, including blood, flow more slowly through your body if you have poor posture. The digestive and vascular systems may suffer, as well as your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, if your circulation isn’t up to par.
If you don’t address the imbalances that lead to poor posture, you might injure your muscles and joints when working out.
Stability Factors Influenced by Biomechanical Factors
Our study of stability-related biomechanical factors will now take place in light of what we’ve learned so far about balance. Topics to be covered include the following:
Mass:
Size matters, and larger objects are more stable than lighter ones. This is a fundamental tenet of balancing. Increasing the object’s bulk is a common strategy for ensuring its stability, because larger objects are more stable and difficult to move. For example, sumo wrestlers and football defensive linemen are more stable because of their enormous mass. It’s not always possible to add heft, and if it is, it might hamper mobility.
Base of Support:
When a piece of equipment makes contact with a support surface, the points of contact form a perimeter called the BOS. The BOS is a crucial concept to learn in order to understand a person’s ability to maintain equilibrium. When a person’s axis of gravity deviates from the BOS, they experience a fall. In order to retain our center of mass inside the BOS, we may adjust our posture in various ways to change the size of the BOS. When a destabilizing torque is applied, we may increase the BOS’s size in the direction of the destabilizing force to maintain stability. The term “growing your stance” refers to this. The stabilizing moment arm rises in bigger as a result of the BOS’s increased breadth, which boosts the stabilizing torque and aids in a person’s stability.
Height of COM:
“Lower your center of mass” is a common instruction in sports where stability is essential (e.g. football, hockey, soccer). Destabilizing torque is reduced by lowering the COM, which decreases the destabilizing moment arm. Having a less destabilizing torque means a greater likelihood of preserving stability with the stabilizing torque.
Static and Dynamic Stability:
Static equilibrium has been the primary focus of the study of balance and stability to until. Dynamic stability, on the other hand, refers to situations in which movement-induced forces help preserve stability. Alternate forces (inertial, centripetal, and kinetic friction) counteract torques when the line of gravity is outside the BOS.
Keep in mind that posture relates to the body’s current position. Stability, minimal localized tissue stress, and low energy expenditure are all characteristics of an ideal posture. Our posture is constantly shifting in order to move, alter the tension on tissues, and help us maintain stability. This force’s effects on the body’s various segments may be studied using the line of gravity (weight force vector) as a reference. In this method, the direction of rotation of the weight force vector may be determined based on where the line of gravity lies in regard to a joint.
