BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Body Care Massages n Posture

Does anyone know if massages really help your posture?

Massages themselves don't help your posture, but what they can do is ease your muscle up enough that you can improve your posture.

Your posture has more to do with your spinal alignment - the bones. But if you have had very poor posture, then your muscles have sort of contracted into the position that you have always beeen in.

A massage, or probably more like a series of massages, can help loosen those muslce up so that you can stand straighter.

It is kind of like imagining a rubber band stretched across a pencil. After the massage the rubber band loosens.

But there are also excercises that can help with posture as well. The majority of which are termed "core" excercises. Mainly focusing on strengthening your abdominal muscles, lateral abs, AND back muscles. It is absolutely amazing how strengthening your stomach muscles can help a hurting back!

That makes alot of sense. They were telling me that deep tissue works to help with posture. It's probably cause of what you just stated.

I got an oil massage regularly right from my childhood. I don't have any skin problems or posture problems today....

What kind of oil?

I do not agrre for that Massages help to posture.For a little while it can be effective but after some time there are same situaiton to creat before we were.

I doubt it very much but at least you'll feel better when hunched over... Massages are for muscles and posture is related to the skeletal system of the body. (shoulders back and back straight)

I believe that massage is a great addition to other modalities when wanting to correct postural issues. I agree that muscles end up stretching, compensating and holding that bad posture unless relaxed. BUT if nothing is done in addition to the massage then your muscles will just go right back to the position they were in to hold the bad posture. I feel that chiropractic, massage, stretching, breathing and AWARENESS of your body are super important. The massage-chiropractic combination is great because you will have the skeletal aspect addressed as well as the muscular and what can happen over time is that the muscles will be trained to hold the correct posture. One thing I did to help my posture was just ask myself throughout the day where my shoulders were. Usually they were up to my ears. So I took some deep abdominal breaths lifted up my shoulders to my ears, held it, and then dropped them back and down. This little exercise was great for me being aware of how I was holding my body through the day and it helped me address my shoulders always being up and tense. Thanks, Candice

Candice that is great advice.

It really depends on the type of bodywork you are getting done AND how much "homework" you are willing to do. I say this as a licensed massage therapist.

I believe that the best possible situation is three-fold - think of the legs of a table. 1-strength training and flexibility 2-massage 3-chiropractic work.

You can go to the chiropractor and get all lined up, but if your muscles are chronically tight, your myofascial restriction will pull your bones right back out of alignment. Likewise, getting a massage can loosen muscles, but if you have weak muscles that are not supporting the body correctly, you will soon be out of alignment again.

What i see in my practice most frequently is called "upper crossed" syndrome where the client presents with a rounded-back, head forward posture....the "computer slump" if you will.

This is so easily remedied and yet it requires a few simple stretches that, surprisingly, many clients aren't willing to do on their own. *laughing* Or maybe not surprising. They'd rather come get their monthly massage. :-)

If you have a therapist skilled in dealing with this situation they ABSOLUTELY CAN help improve your posture. Posture is all about your body's alignment. I've had clients come in to my clinic unable to hold their heads in a straight line - they literally could NOT stand straight! But leave with greater range-of-motion and freedom of movement than they imagined possible. :-)

In the example above a client will present with "burning pain between the shoulder blades" and an inexperienced therapist may focus all their work on the back and shoulders. Not realizing that those muscles are the ones that need to be strengthened! The muscles of the upper neck and chest are the ones that are tight and constricted and need to be loosened.

Anyway - I digress. Yes - massage can greatly help with posture. ESpecially if your poor posture is due to (or has caused) muscle restriction. It's not a cure-all, as others have mentioned, but then, nothing ever is, eh?

Angela <><