Posture and your Brain

Posture and Your Brain at Azzolino

People often equate poor posture with being lazy or overweight, but posture is actually a non-conscious event. An infant’s posture is poor due to undeveloped parts of the brain that control the postural muscles. As a child matures, his brain receives a continual bombardment of sensory stimuli from his joints, muscles, eyes, and ears. These stimuli lead to the development of the cerebellum and parts of the brain that govern postural control. As we witness the decline in brain function throughout life, we see a generalized decrease in postural tone.

The cerebellum, a small part of our lower brain in the back of the head, plays a vital role in coordinating muscles, controlling many reflexes, and keeping us erect in the earth’s gravitational field. Recent research demonstrates that the cerebellum controls all brain functions — especially cognition and behavior. The cerebellum receives a significant portion of its input from the receptors embedded in the joints and muscles. Although humans are not continually moving, the constant gravitational load on joint and muscle mechanoreceptors creates continuous cerebellar stimulation. Gravity thus provides a source of constant brain stimulation.

If the joints and muscles of the body, especially the spinal joints (which receive the majority of the force in the upright posture of humans), are moving correctly, then there is an optimum amount of mechanoreceptor stimulation to the cerebellum and brain, resulting in appropriate postural muscle control. The postural muscles then have increased endurance, allowing them to hold an individual upright for long periods.

If an individual has altered biomechanics or movement of a joint, then he may have a decreased amount of mechanoreceptor stimulation to the brain and, in turn, have reduced activation of postural muscles.