Many people with chronic, posture-related concerns will attribute the onset of their symptoms to the task of raising their children. Although some new parents actually feel the discomfort in the first few months and years of parenting, the majority of people may not feel any pain or discomfort for a number of years, as the muscle imbalances created by parenting activities become more deep-seated and develop into serious postural deviations. As well, it is possible to not feel the imbalances and deviations at all, but movement efficiency and functional capacity are sacrificed as the body ends up further out of alignment. The entire field of ergonomics is directed toward the prevention of work-related injury which may be brought about in part by performing activities with poor posture. The ergonomic intervention into the occupation of nursing, for example, has made a significant and valuable reduction in the frequency and severity of job-related injuries. Unfortunately the majority of our most common parenting activities must be performed with poor body alignment if they are to be performed at all, and although there are ways of minimizing the physical stress, it cannot be eliminated entirely. It is also important to note that parents will naturally tend to sacrifice their own comfort and safety for that of their child, and if the only way to give that sick baby girl any comfort is to carry her on your chest and bounce gently up and down, it's going to be a long night of carrying and bouncing, with a lot of upper back pain thrown in. And unlike at work, you don't get to walk away because it is 5:00pm and quitting-time.

The educational materials included with our video program are designed to give you basic knowledge about the importance of healthy posture. More important than knowing that you must stand straight, is knowing how to stand straight, and our 'Neutral Posture' and 'Posture Self Test" segments will allow you to check your own progress.

You can learn more about the posture self test here

The selection and sequence of the exercises are carefully chosen and should be performed as shown and in the order shown. The Active Range of Motion Exercises are designed to warm you up for the Postural Stretching Exercises, which in turn prepare your muscles and joints for the Conditioning and Re-Alignment Exercises. In this arrangement, there is a gradual build-up and cool-down with respect to the intensity of the movements. The core conditioning movements are focused slightly more on the spinal stabilizer muscles than on the abdominal muscles, to help address the specific demands of parenting activities. There is no cardiovascular component to this exercise routine (although a couple of the movements will definitely get your heart-rate up) and we do recommend that you try to engage in 20-30 minutes of cardiovascular activity at least 2-3 days each week. Adequate nutrition is unbelievably important in maximizing the results of any exercise/activity program. If you don't eat properly, your body can't recover from workouts or injury as quickly as it should. You also won't have enough energy to make it through a day of parenting, let alone having any left over for your own activities. As long as you eat well, exercises that promote the maintenance and development of lean body tissue, such as those included in The Parent Posture Exercise Program, will help to boost your metabolism, which helps you to burn off extra calories and have more energy.