for over 20 years
VIC 3012, Australia
Serving Melbourne
for over 30 years
35 Churchill Ave , Maidstone, VIC 3012, Australia
We’ve all heard it before “stand up straight”, “stop slouching”, “don’t laze on that chair” it seems like every generation hears the same words from their parents. But is posture as simple as it sounds and is it the cause of pain?
Human evolution has occurred over millions and millions of years. During this time our brains have evolved in three distinct phases. About 300 million years ago our brainstem started to develop. This provides our automated body control responses and our flight or fight mechanisms. From here our limbic or emotional centres began to develop increasing our brain mass and providing us with enhanced functions. Finally, over the last 2-3 million years our frontal lobes grew.
As we look through evolutionary development, we see very specific posture changes relating to the emergence of new areas of the brain. For example, most reptiles are low to the ground and have very simple movement mechanisms. Mammals on the other hand tend to be higher off the ground and more mobile. But the real changes have occurred in the last 2-3 million years where our neocortex (new brain) has developed.
Over years of development there’s no doubt muscular activation patterns have changed. Our neocortex is an overlay on previous evolutionary development stimulating and inhibiting our older reptilian areas to help guide and control our survival mechanisms.
As this occurs, our extensor muscle function has evolved and developed allowing us to slowly move from a flat reptilian posture up through all four legs to the erect posture we should have today. It’s our higher brain development that has allowed this to occur.
You can see this in infant development. As a child begins their journey into brain development there is a slow increase in extensor tone until they can, crawl, sit and eventually stand unassisted.
When the brain fails our posture often does too. The lack of cortical function can result in an ape-like posture. A rounded shoulders posture with the head craned forward and a lethargy look.
These brain changes can happen for many reasons. The most obvious time this is visible is in people who have had a significant stroke where one side of the body adapts this ‘hemiplegic’ posture. But there are many non-pathological causes of similar patterns.
The most common reason we see this rounded shoulder posture is because of brain fatigue. This can come from a variety of reasons such as:
Posture can sometimes be purely a structural problem. Our spine is made up of 33 spinal bones known as vertebrae. These bones stack on top of each other to form a smooth flowing tower protecting our spinal cord whilst still allowing for movement.
In some people these bones can lose their nice positioning resulting in changes to posture. This is most notable in teenagers and those in their later years.
Scoliosis is a condition that afflicts people of all ages but most commonly starts in teenagers. Whilst the human spine should be straight when looking from behind, in some people the spine starts to curve sideways resulting in your ribs sitting higher on one side than the other.
This curvature of the spine can arise from many different causes including:
A kyphosis is a rounded shoulder posture resulting in a hump through the middle of your back known as the thoracic spine. This posture can be developmental as a result of slouching for many years, but can also be commonly associated with a condition known as Scheurmann’s disease or compression fracture.
Scheuermann’s disease is a condition in which the vertebrae no longer maintain their nice square shape. This change in shape results in the vertebrae no longer stacking up correctly causing an excessive hump appearance in your back.
Scheuermann’s is believed to be caused by vascular changes to the vertebrae during developmental teenage years and can result in pain during this time.
A similar affect can occur from a specific type of fracture known as a compression fracture. Compression fractures also often result in the change in shape of your vertebrae and commonly occur as a result of osteoporosis.
If you’re like most people, the chances are your back or neck pain isn’t coming directly from your posture. However, posture problems can commonly result in muscular fatigue contributing to pain in the back or neck.
Whilst many people look for help from a back brace in Melbourne, this form of treatment alone often isn’t the right answer. Braces can help people learn where straight is and relieve the fatigue of being upright, but can potentially also lead to a relying on it and even a weakening of the musculature if not used correctly.
Our team of expert body alignment chiropractors are highly trained in all the causes of posture problems. Through our detailed structural, neurological, muscular and physiological assessments our team can identify whether your posture problems are likely to be neurological, structural, fatigue or muscular in nature and develop a specific customized program of care to maximize your chance of improvement.
We are a natural health care center that provides chiropractic services. Known among the best chiropractors in Maidstone, our practitioners are trained in Applied Kinesiology and are focused on not just pain, but total health and well being for everyone from infants to professional athletes. We create individual programs based on thorough assessments empowering you to decide whether you just want to get out of pain or really improve the quality of your health and life.
Our practitioners are either certified or diplomates in Applied Kinesiology by the International College of Applied Kinesiology and are also nationally registered Chiropractors. The knowledge they have allows us to quickly identify problems of a structural and physiological nature allowing us to work with problems beyond what most people have classically associated with Chiropractic care.
The result is a level of care not experienced by many previously.
We understand the importance of first-class chiropractic treatment and do what it takes to offer high-quality yet affordable services so you can live your best life.
The team at Spinewise is passionate, committed, and caring, ready to serve patients across key areas in and around Melbourne.
We are a natural health care center that provides chiropractic services. Known among the best chiropractors in Maidstone, our practitioners are trained in Applied Kinesiology and are focused on not just pain, but total health and well being for everyone from infants to professional athletes. We create individual programs based on thorough assessments empowering you to decide whether you just want to get out of pain or really improve the quality of your health and life.
Our practitioners are either certified or diplomates in Applied Kinesiology by the International College of Applied Kinesiology and are also nationally registered Chiropractors. The knowledge they have allows us to quickly identify problems of a structural and physiological nature allowing us to work with problems beyond what most people have classically associated with Chiropractic care.
The result is a level of care not experienced by many previously.
We understand the importance of first-class chiropractic treatment and do what it takes to offer high-quality yet affordable services so you can live your best life.
The team at Spinewise is passionate, committed, and caring, ready to serve patients across key areas in and around Melbourne.
Migraines are more than just a “bad headache.” They are a neurological condition that can involve intense, throbbing pain, often on one side of the head, and may be accompanied by nausea, visual disturbances, light or sound sensitivity, dizziness, or fatigue.
Unlike common tension headaches, migraines often reflect how the brain and nervous system are processing stress, movement and sensory input. In many cases, the brain is overstimulated, especially a pathway known as the trigeminovascular pathway. Check out my vid on how migraines occur here: https://youtu.be/R_kdOZFaZ48
With a thorough assessment of your neurology, physiology and hormone patterns, an underlying driver of migraines can be found.
Migraines rarely have a single cause. That’s why we take a whole-person approach rather than chasing symptoms alone.
Our Migraine assessment session may include:
Our goal is to understand why your nervous system may be under strain and find a solution to the dysfunction.
For many people, yes, but everyone is different. It’s rare for two people to have the same cause for their migraines. We aim to improve how the body and nervous system function together. When spinal joints, muscles, neural pathways and hormonal mechanisms are under stress, this can often place the brain on edge, just waiting for a trigger to set it off.
By restoring movement, reducing mechanical stress, supporting nervous system regulation and improving function, many patients experience:
Every person responds differently, but care is always tailored to your body and your needs.
Applied Kinesiology (AK) allows us to assess how different systems in the body — including the musculoskeletal, neurological, biochemical, and stress-response systems — are interacting.
Using gentle muscle testing, we can identify:
AK doesn’t replace our neurological, physiological, structural or hormonal testing; it adds to the context of them. This helps guide more precise, individualised care, rather than relying on guesswork or one-size-fits-all approaches.
This varies from person to person and depends on factors such as migraine history, frequency, nervous system resilience, stress levels, lifestyle factors and the root of imbalance.
Some people notice changes within a few visits, while others experience more gradual improvement over weeks to months. Our focus is on doing what we need to do to build long-term stability and resilience within your nervous system.
We’ll always discuss realistic expectations with you and track your progress.
Yes. We do not advise stopping or changing any medications unless directed by your GP or specialist. Our team are experts in Migraine care and are well aware of the various medications and injectable treatments. Our care can be safely used alongside medical management.
The first goal is to assist you in getting relief from your migraine events.
We are a natural health care centre that provides Chiropractic and Natural Health services. Our practitioners are trained in Applied Kinesiology and are focused on not just pain, but total health and wellbeing for everyone from infants to professional athletes.
