Dr. Sisu, Alexandria, VA (2025)

09/30/2024

Take the following self-checks in the mirror to do a quick self-analysis of your posture:

1. Take a side body photo and a front-view photo of yourself.

2. One the side body photo, check to see if your ear is in front of the midpoint of your shoulder. If so, it’s likely your head is too far forwards.

3. In the front photo check to see if one shoulder is higher than the other.

4. Also, check if your feet turn out more than 10 degrees to either side.

These are just some of the seemingly minuscule alignment issues which can result in bigger problems down the line if not addressed in the early days of misalignment.

As always, make sure to seek professional opinion when beginning a course of exercises or correctional movements!

You can feel better in your body! Osteopathic treatments can help with your posture and realignment, call today for your appointment!

09/23/2024

The Problem - Stiff neck and shoulder muscles

The Cause - Lack of movement and mobility of the upper body, likely to be experienced by desk workers.

The Solution - Moving only the head. Allow the chin to drop down towards the sternum, stretching out the back of the neck. Repeat up to 10 times a day.

Similarly, rounded shoulders are caused by a weakness in the trapezius muscles of the upper back and shoulder blades. To combat this, lie on your belly with the palms facing the floor and the elbows bent at 90-degree angles from the body. Use an inhale breath to lift the entire front of your body from the floor and keep the chin tucked in towards the sternum.

What are your most commonly experienced postural complaints?

You can feel better in your body! Osteopathic treatments can help with your posture and realignment, call today for your appointment!

09/16/2024

Did you know the link between your lung capacity and proper spinal alignment?

Just as the digestive and circulatory systems benefit from improved posture and alignment, so too does the respiratory system. Pressure on the lungs stemming from hunched shoulders and spinal curvatures means that we become accustomed to breathing in a way which inhibits our lungs from taking in their full breath capacity.

Most people only breath to about 30% our their lung capacity - imagine how we would feel if we started to breathe like this all of the time?

By first attending to the alignment of the structural body, the organs, and systems surrounding it can then gradually fall back into place and start functioning to the height of their capacity. You’ll be able to take and maintain a deeper breath pattern which will directly impact energy levels and circulatory health, too!

It’s all interconnected - start with your alignment!

You can feel better in your body! Osteopathic treatments can help with your posture and realignment, call today for your appointment!

09/09/2024

One area of health which postural alignment directly impacts, though you may not initially think it, is our DIGESTION.

When we consider digestion and all the required factors to ensure it runs smoothly, it’s unusual to think about our posture and yet it may just be the most important factor of all.

For digestion to function as desired at all, it’s vital that the organs in the digestive system remain aligned correctly. Poor posture like slouching, standing with the hips drawn forwards, and even just sitting for too long every day, all have direct impacts on our digestive system. This will cause not only a slowing down of the metabolism but also creates a more complex system for the body to navigate food through in order to pass waste.

This, in turn, hinders the absorption of nutrients from food, and we’re left with an increased likelihood of nutritional deficiency and gastrointestinal disorders like IBS.

In order to improve and maximize the efficiency of our digestive system, we must first prioritize our alignment.

Improved digestion is just one of the things you can expect from beginning a path towards optimal postural alignment.

You can feel better in your body! Osteopathic treatments can help with your posture and realignment, call today for your appointment!

09/02/2024

Among the numerous symptoms and effects of poor posture, increased stress and tension has to be one of the most debilitating and frequently observed by chiropractors.

This can be due to a number of things, but most often from physical stress being placed on the body due to poor alignment, which translates to soreness and pain, which in turn leads to mental stress.

The decreased levels of testosterone caused by poor alignment can also be a factor, as cortisol levels will increase to counteract this. The posturally challenged individual will be left stressed, sad, and unwilling to move the body to shift it! (This may sound extreme, but trust us, we’ve seen it happen!)

In fact, it’s even possible to build resilience to stress by remembering to sit up straight and commit to a period of proper posture instead of allowing the body to be slouched or hunched throughout the day.

You can feel better in your body! Osteopathic treatments can help with your posture and realignment, call today for your appointment!

08/26/2024

In her powerful TED Talk on body language and posture (linked below), Amy Cuddy has discussed how holding the body in various positions has specific effects on our overall mood and outlook. It can increase confidence, decrease anxiety, and ensure that all bodily functions are optimized.

She describes how taking a ‘large stance’ such as expanding the feet wide and opening the arms out to the side actually increases testosterone production and reduces stress hormones significantly.

It goes without saying that the way we hold ourselves has a direct effect on outlook and mood.

Take a listen to Amy’s talk and share in the comments what you think!

https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are

You can feel better in your body! Osteopathic treatments can help with your posture and realignment, call today for your appointment!

08/19/2024

There are numerous practices, like yoga and pilates, which are beneficial for your overall alignment, flexibility, and postural health. But what they don’t tell you about this kind of exercise is that they are most beneficial only if you enter into them with a certain level of awareness about your existing posture and alignment.

Yes, regular practice of yoga CAN positively impact your posture as the spinal muscles become strengthened to support a more upright and erect spine. But it’s important to begin these exercises from a place of correct alignment to ensure you don’t continue to practice compromise movement patterns. This hugely minimizes the effects of the practices and can actually be more hindering than helpful.

It’s no wonder that professional athletes are turning to functional movement exercises and yoga practices in their time outside of official training hours. The general basis for this being that the more awareness and understanding of our own physical bodies we have, the more effective any kind of movement exercises will prove.

When will you assess your alignment?

You can feel better in your body! Osteopathic treatments can help with your posture and realignment, call today for your appointment!

08/12/2024

Do you want to reduce fatigue in your everyday life?

Believe it or not, fatigue and even depression can be impacted by poor posture! This is because the flow of energy around the body becomes restricted by misaligned joints and closes off the circulation of blood and energy.

You’ll be amazed at how energized you’ll feel after just a short time of ‘standing up straight’ and maintaining proper alignment as you go about your day. Individual bodies will require different kinds of adjustments and correctional exercises. However, it’s crucial to see a chiropractic professional when you begin on your journey towards proper postural correction.

There are even studies which look at the increase in instances of depression and mental health imbalances as a direct result of poor posture caused by our modern day sedentary and desk-bound lifestyles.

What do you think? How do you feel after a day of standing tall?

You can feel better in your body! Osteopathic treatments can help with your posture and realignment, call today for your appointment!

08/05/2024

Keep bones and joints healthy by optimizing your postural alignment!

Over time, poor skeletal alignment can result in muscular and joint pain that very often leads to arthritis, scoliosis, osteoporosis, and countless other skeletal issues in older age. The thing with postural alignment is that each body differs considerably, and as such the ‘optimal’ alignment for one body and skeleton will ultimately be extremely different to the ‘optimal’ alignment for another.

Chiropractic professionals help to assess individual needs and your body’s unique postural tendencies - whether it is completely out of alignment or could do with some minuscule adjustments to improve. From here they are able to correctly prescribe a course of movement exercises to ensure your posture is returned to its optimal alignment.

This is why individual postural alignment consultations are so vital, as just doing exercises you think will improve posture may, in fact, prove damaging for your particular needs.

What are you waiting for? Your spine will thank you!

You can feel better in your body! Osteopathic treatments can help with your posture and realignment, call today for your appointment!

07/30/2024

The good news is that unless you’re already suffering from an extreme spinal curvature, the effects and symptoms of poor posture can almost ALWAYS be reversed. It’s also worth noting that many of these simple exercises can be performed at home after an initial consultation to ensure they are the correct motions for your body.

This means that quite often it’s possible for you to return yourself to optimum health and happiness simply by remembering to prioritize proper alignment throughout your day!

Try these simple corrections to optimize alignment:

- Sit up straight

- Tuck your chin in towards your chest to lengthen the back of the spine

- Don’t cross your legs when sitting at a desk - this places unnecessary pressure on the lower back muscles and compresses the lumbar spine.

What are you waiting for? Start correcting your posture today!

You can feel better in your body! Osteopathic treatments can help with your posture and realignment, call today for your appointment!

07/29/2024

Figures show that between 30-40% of the elderly adult population suffer from some sort of postural or spinal deformity.

If you’d like to reduce the likelihood of developing a spinal curvature or difficulty with alignment as you age, then it’s vital for you to begin addressing any postural difficulties as soon as you can!

Optimal postural alignment allows for correct energy flow through the body, causing muscles to return to normal functioning as it’s ensured they do not have to overcompensate for poor posture. This results in improved circulation, faster healing time from injury and illness, and an overall boost in energy levels.

You can feel better in your body! Osteopathic treatments can help with your posture and realignment, call today for your appointment!

05/27/2024

For the nearly 30 million Americans who have diabetes, many will be surprised to learn about an unexpected complication associated with this condition- gum disease!

As if bad breath isn’t enough, diabetes-associated gum disease can also increase the risk for heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease.

When was the last time you saw your dentist? A healthy mouth goes beyond a nice smile!

There are lifestyle interventions that you can easily implement if you have prediabetes or diabetes! Contact our office if interested to work with us!

Dr. Sisu

09/30/2024

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08/26/2024

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