The “Straight” pillar has three main goals:

1. 1. To improve your posture
2. 2. To help you move safely during everyday activities.
3. 3. To reduce your pain.
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5. The Straight Phase focuses on keeping your spine aligned as nature intended (straight) and supported by strong muscles. The goal is to have good dynamic posture, (self use) while you go about every day activities.
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3. Step 1: Improving Kyphosis and Posture
4. “Kyphosis” is the medical term for the forward curvature of the upper back that can sometimes happen after spinal fractures.
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6. At my practice we also refer to it as “the stoop”.  This posture, can make you feel “hunched”, and when you look in the mirror you will observe you are developing more “rounded shoulders” and over time you may notice you are getting shorter.
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8. This “stooping” posture can actually increase your risk of falling because it changes your centre of gravity and puts you ‘off balance’. Often people standing this way can be observed to have their head aligned in front of their feet.
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10. Body Awareness Training, Decompression Training, Posture Training and specific back muscle strengthening exercises helps improve this curvature, making you feel taller, more aligned and more stable on your feet
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1. Stage 2: Safe Moving and Lifting (The Hip Hinge)
2. One of the most important skills you will learn during this phase is the “hip hinge”.
3. Many individuals have a habit of “rounding” their back when they bend over to pick something up, tie shoe laces, or reach into a low cupboard.
4. If your vertebrae are less strong inside, this forward-bending movement (called “flexion”) puts a lot of pressure on the front of your spinal bones, which can contribute to them fracturing.
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Hip hinge education trains you to bend at your hips and knees instead of your waist.

By keeping your back straight and using your strong leg muscles to do the work, you protect your spine from unnecessary strain.

The sources recommend individuals with osteoporosis modify or avoiding movements that involve extreme, loaded, or repeated forward bending unless you have developed very good muscle tone and control.

2. Stage 3: Back Muscle Strength for Endurance and Stability.
3. While the “Strong” pillar focuses on heavy weights to build muscle bulk and power increasing pull on the bones, which potentially improves or stabilises bone density,  the “Straight” pillar focuses on developing muscle endurance.
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5.  Your back muscles are endurance “postural muscles”—their job is to keep working all day long, they are designed for marathons, not sprints.

The ROS guidelines are quite specific, they indicate that to help your spine, you need to perform back-strengthening exercises on 2–3 days a week.

These are usually low-intensity movements where you hold a position—such as a back extension—for 3 to 5 seconds.

The goal is to build up to 10 repetitions.

The ROS guidelines also indicated if you are currently experiencing pain from a fracture, these back exercises should be done daily to help relieve the discomfort.

When you are working with me one to one, we will review your specific needs to ensure your support is managed to your needs.