Get Rid of Braces and Change your Posture!

Knee braces, ankle braces, back braces, elbow braces, wrist braces. Need I say more? I'm sure you see them everywhere you go. You see them at the gym. Maybe a co-worker is wearing one. People walking down the street are wearing them. We are surrounded by them. They make them for every joint in the body, so why wouldn't we be?

People are told by their health practitioner or the TV commercial they watched, that their sore, aching joints need to be braced. They are weak and need stability and can't do their intended jobs on their own. Is that true? Is the body really that weak? The short answer? No, it's not. Our joints are incredibly stable, and incredibly functional. Our joints allow us to run, jump, and climb, cut left and right, and stand up out of a chair. Joints aren't "fragile," far from it actually, even though we've been led to believe they are. Wearing a brace is simply treating the symptom. It's doing nothing for the actual cause of your pain.

Let's do an experiment--before you get in the shower, take a look in the mirror. Look at your load joints--shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles--and find what looks "off" about them. Is one shoulder higher than the other? Is one hip rotated more toward the mirror? What about your knees? Which way do they point? Are your feet pointed in different directions? Which foot has more weight on it?

If any joint in your body is "off" as you look at it in the mirror, you're getting closer to finding the source of your pain! When the body deviates from its design blueprint, pain is the warning signal it sends. We can't brace the pain and simply mask the true cause. Living pain free starts by returning the joints to their proper position. While bracing might help in the short-term, it is certainly not a long-term solution.