I just finished setting up the Wii Fit Plus. I was amazed at the information provided to users of the Wii system. There was a lot of preparation and instruction on the importance of maintaining proper posture and balance. The gaming industry realizes something that many health care providers don’t…breakdown in posture and balance is a break down in health.
Some of the earliest signs of spinal degeneration show up in a person’s posture and how they move their bodies. A trained clinician can identify movement pattern disorders and make appropriate changes before the problem becomes chronic and severe. In order to stop the pain, you must first balance the brain. When the brain is balanced by changing the input from muscle spindles and receptors (located all over, but especially in the feet, spine and neck), it provides more balanced output. This means you are more stable, you are more agile and you can prevent breakdown and degeneration of your joint structures.
There are a lot of things that get worse over time and are just chalked up to “getting older”, but our posture and balance systems shouldn’t get worse as we age. These systems should be maintained and worked on from the moment of birth and through our entire lifespan. It is important that infants go through the proper stages of movement to fully develop healthy, coordinated brains. It is important that toddlers and school children work on their posture and balance since this has such a profound impact on learning and memory. Without a doubt, this is an area that everyone, regardless of age, should be working on each and every day.
The Wii Fit shows the importance of balance and posture. It also makes it easy and fun to improve your posture and balance in just a few minutes each day. Take some time with the family each day and make positive strides in everyone’s health.
