Our Postures Tell Our Stories, Not Our Injuries!

I found this picture of me in my early twenties about eight years ago. At that time, I was suffering with back pain and disc bulges due to multiple cycling accidents around that age, which left my body in a constant state of protection.

As you look at my posture, you can see my shoulders are forward. Growing up, I wasn’t very sure about puberty and how my body was changing, so subconsciously I hid what was developing in my chest by rounding my shoulders forward. My lower back was very straight from years of being a student, sitting six to eight hours per day. My neck protruded forward, as if leaning over my books — and later on my speed bike, which I rode for years.

Yes, my posture was partly down to my way of being and the things I did for prolonged hours, so my body adjusted to make sure I could do these things effectively. However, the multiple cycling accidents throughout my racing career mainly contributed to my body learning that this was my posture. Through this posture, it learned to hold muscle tension to protect itself.

The accidents caused my fascia to increase its tension, which meant my posture became fixed and inflexible, eventually compressing my discs. When I first found this picture eight years ago, I was a mother with a two-year-old. Exercise was no longer part of my routine due to time constraints, and my body reinforced that posture even further.

By the time my child was five years old, I had my first disc bulge. Two years later, the second disc bulge. Two years after that, my third disc bulge.

Although I found this picture eight years ago, I found it again four years later. The first time should have been my clue — my posture — but instead, what stood out most was the memory of volunteering for the emergency services in America. The second time I found this picture, the posture truly struck me.

That was when I started to look after my body, practising what I was already teaching in my physiotherapy practice. And I was healing.

However, another layer evolved.

I began noticing posture in more detail and understanding that posture tells me the story of my patients — just as it told mine. Through these stories, we can change posture alongside physiotherapy exercises.

This shift in perspective has been huge, and it has paid off. It is now helping me develop online programs for common aches and pains, where patients can start healing instead of waiting.

It took me years to understand the relationship between our posture and our stories. I want to share this so you can start healing too — even if you don’t currently have an injury. Because we all have a posture.

And the question is:what is your posture saying about you — and your possible injuries?