A girl's dream of becoming a ballerina won't come true if she has bad posture

When I was a kid, many of my teachers told my parents that I was a dreamer. And they made me feel bad about it. Like it was wrong to dream. 

Luckily, I haven't really changed. I'm still a big dreamer. I have lots of dreams (in the night AND day!).

What I teach my kids is that you should never stop dreaming. Kids are meant to dream.

"I wanna be a pilot."

"I wanna be an astronaut."

"I wanna be a chef."

"I wanna be a ballerina."

They should keep those dreams in their hearts and minds, because I definitely believe that dreams do come true.

Call that optimism, or idealism, but I've always had big desires and big dreams. And I'm a true testament to having dreams come true. So far, all my dreams have come true.

I'm not even finished yet. I have more dreams, and I intend to work on them so they also come true.

(One of my dreams is to become a teacher/lecturer/leader in the chiropractic profession.)

As important as it is to never stop dreaming, it's also important to create your path towards that dream.

Over the half-term last week, I spent (way too much) time going back and forth to Woking for my daughters' ballet recital. It was a beautiful recital that their school produced and choreographed for months. 

Finally, after a stupendous amount of work from all the participants, we were all able to watch the beautiful ballet this past weekend. 

Aside from being impressed with all the costumes, dance, and talent of the show, I couldn't help but notice how poor some of the young girls' postures were. In fact, I was uncomfortably shocked.

I don't know if these girls dream of becoming professional ballerinas, but I do know that some of them will need to work very hard at it because of their poor posture. 

It's not only the poor posture on a visual aesthetic level. It's what the poor posture is doing to that child's spine, neurology, development, and overall health. Children with poor posture have remarkably poorer health and immune function, lowered coordination, poorer reflexes, less ability to focus and learn, poorer memory, and lowered athletic ability. That's not the end of the list either.

During the ballet, I kept on noticing the spines on these girls, and what struck me as a major problem was how could I help these girls? What could I possibly do?

How do I tell their parents? Do I just go up to them and say, 

"Excuse me, but I'm an expert of the spine and I noticed that your daughter has very bad posture."

I think people would be offended and they wouldn't take that very well.

There's got to be a better way.

Maybe I could speak to the parents after a class as a group instead of targeting a specific child's parent. 

Ballerina's are known to have very long spines and neck with seemingly perfect posture. Well, I'm here to burst the bubble to tell you that some of the worse spines are those of ballerinas. Why? Because they've been forced to position their necks and spines in a painful way, without having the proper alignment 'taught' to their brains to configure and organise the function of their nerves, joints, and muscles. 

So, instead of properly training the brain to communicate well with the whole spine, the ballerina's spine has unnecessary tension, wear and tear, and stiffness. Over the years, this can create lots of damage that is very difficult to retrain and correct.

The point that I'm making is that although it's essential to keep dreaming, to work on your goals, and to become what you want, it is also important to learn what it takes to make that happen.

Most of which is dependant on your posture!

This is why I am so passionate about chiropractic for children. The improvement I have seen and observed in children after starting and continuing regular chiropractic care is essential for them to carry out and achieve good health, happy lives, and fulfilment of dreams!

So, bring your children to a chiropractor, have their spine checked and adjusted regularly!

See you soon!

— Dr MaryAnne