Eyeglasses and posture

Did you know that wearing eyeglasses can affect your posture? The way glasses fit on our faces often forces us to tilt our heads or crane our necks. In order to see over the rims when we are wearing reading glasses and need to look into the distance, we duck our heads and thrust our face forward.

Some glasses have rims that are not large enough to encompass our visual field, in which case we adjust our head position to stay within the smaller space in order to see.Long term wear of poorly adjusted glasses can cause constriction in the neck and shoulders, leading to chronic muscle strain and headaches.

Combine the glasses with the chairs we sit in and the way many of us sit at our computers–our lower backs collapsed, shoulders rounded and head thrust forward–and we are set up for a future of pain! According to Travell & Simons (“Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction”), reading and copy material should be placed at eye level to avoid sustained forward tilting of the head and to relieve the back of the neck and upper back muscles of prolonged overload.

Our eyes are one of three mechanisms we have for maintaining balance–the other two being the complex neural configurations of our inner ear and the sensory nerves on the bottoms of our feet. The effects of gravity and the series of structural imbalances within our bodies might send our heads off to one side or the other, yet our eyes must forever remain “on the horizon” as part of our innate strive for balance.

When we wear glasses, our heads and necks must make further adjustments in order to keep our eyes functioning as the self-regulating tools that they are.The next time you wear your glasses, check to see if your neck is straining in order to accomodate the size or fit of your glasses. If so, you might want to invest in a better-fitting pair!

A poem (abbreviated) by Richard Podolny

Structural Integration
is the balancing of a human body in three-dimensional space.
It is the evoking of the innate connection within all human beings,
With the Earth and the Heavens, with the Mother and the Father,
With the Source and the Sourceless.

Structural Integration
Is the separation and delineation
Of individual muscles into their own unique perfect functioning.
It is creating relationship.
Relationship between the lesser and the greater,
Between the fingers and the wrist
The wrist and the arm
The arm and the shoulder
The shoulder and the back
Between the legs and the earth
Between the head and the sky
Between the body in space and the body in gravity.
Freeing muscles to move independently.
Freeing bones to allow themselves to go naturally into place.
Freeing nerves to flow the information of life wihtout interference.
Freeing the Spirit to move as it will and having the courage to move with it.

Structural Integration
Is a Way.
A way of learning and understanding whereby the body becomes the teacher.
There is no difference between the Body and the Mind
Between the Body/Mind and the Spirit there are no lacks and no mistakes,
Only constant opportunities to move to the next step
In the ever increasing, ever enlightening spiral of Life.

Structural Integration
Is the arrangement of space in a body.
A body that has been Structurally Integrated manifests a line,
An open core that allows life to move through it,
And manifest from it, in infinite directions.
The arrangement of pieces of ourselves which were scattered
Amongst disconnected and unorganized patterns of life
Appearing as distored and imbalanced connective tissue.
With the arrangement of space within the body
The connection to previously unconnected parts of our body
Speaks to us of security and love.
The pains of our past are released and reformed into strength and wisdom.

Dr. Richard Podolny, M.D., practices family medicine in Hawaii. He has practiced and taught Rolfing and mind/body medicine for the last 25 years.

Written by LynnCohen