Gravity is the one physical constant that we, as humans, must endure. An appropriate response to gravity facilitates healthy, symmetrical joints in our bodies. What is a healthy, symmetrical joint?
The joints in our bodies, such as knees, hips, and ankles, send signals to our brain about what’s happening in and around that joint.. These signals can be either healthy, or unhealthy. A healthy signal would be relaying a message to the brain that says, “Things are moving fine here! No need to panic.” An unhealthy signal transmits, “We are experiencing more stress than we’d like to handle. Alert! Alert!” This ‘alert’ signal often manifests in a nociceptive manner, or as a more frequently used term, pain.
If this ‘alert’ signal is making its way to our brain from that joint, it overpowers the healthy signal. When we stand in a crooked fashion, we put undue stress on joints that were designed to be symmetrical against gravity. Standing in a straight, symmetrical manner not only allows the stress felt in your joints to dissipate, but it also allows for a higher functioning capacity of your brain.
When you are in constant pain, are you able to work efficiently? Exercise efficiently? Think about anything other than the fact that you are in pain? Without the help of medication, not usually. In this situation, if we were to look at a pie chart of our brain’s energy usage, a large portion would be occupied by “I’m feeling pain.” If the pain signal is dampened, or taken away completely, room is created in our brain that can now be allocated to other activities. The lousy part about trying to stand straight on our own is that the majority of us can only do it as long as we’re actively thinking about. Did your mom ever tell you to “stand/sit up straight”? It’s an easy thing to correct, until you stop thinking about correcting it. The beauty of NUCCA is that it is designed to enable your body to take care of that without you having to think about it. As a NUCCA practitioner, it is extremely satisfying to watch that unravel with my own eyes.
