A client who had been working with me 6 months comes bounding in the front door of the Vitality Center and says, "Aaron, before I started working with you I had my blood pressure taken as part of a health exam now that I'm 62. I just had a check-up and my blood pressure is down by 20 points. I haven't taken any drugs. I haven't done any additional exercise than I normally do. I haven't changed my diet. Is it possible that Reposturing has lowered my blood pressure? "
Pump #1: The HeartIn my many conversations with Dr. Victor Barker, author of Posture Makes Perfect, I learned that posture plays a big role in circulation and regulation of blood pressure. What people don't know about circulation is that there are 5 pumps that your body uses to circulate blood. Most of us are already familiar with the heart as the main pump for the blood. By the time blood leaves your heart and gets down to your feet, the blood pressure is approximately 1/3 of its original pressure. How does the blood get back to the heart?
Pump#2: The Heel StrikeIn the feet, there is a venous plexus that is stimulated with every heel strike. This venous plexus in the foot stimulates blood to circulate through the capillaries from the arteries to the veins of the feet where blood begins to return back to the heart.
Pump #3: The Calf Muscles- The Body's "Second Heart"When blood leaves the feet, it heads up through the veins in the calf that are specialized to have flaps that prevent backflow. Every time the calves flex in a normal stride, the contraction of the calf muscles pushes blood further up the leg, and the relaxation of the calves allows more blood to fill up the vein. The flaps close inside the vein to prevent backflow.
Pump #4: The Arterial Return WaveThe fourth way that blood gets back to your heart is the "arterial return wave". According to Dr. Henry Hamilton, a surgeon, there is an arterial return wave that stimulates blood flow in the adjacent vein that helps to send blood back to the heart. To get a picture of it in your mind, imagine if you splash water in a bathtub. Your splashing hand pushes water to the other end of the tub, but that wave comes back to you with some force and continues for some time until the water settles. That return wave is what happens in the arterial blood flow in the thigh. The body sends blood to the leg in the artery, but it doesn't send it in one big "woosh". There is a wave that pushes then recedes again and again until blood makes it all the way down the leg. Simultaneously, the power of that return wave pushes blood from the legs up to the abdomen.
Pump #5: The Abdominal VacuumThe fifth way is the vacuum pump that gets created when, with your full and open ribcage, every time you take a full breath you create negative pressure in the abdomen. That negative pressure is a vacuum that creates a suction force that helps pull blood into the lower hose that goes to the heart, otherwise known as the inferior vena cava.
With each of the five systems of circulation, there could be negative consequences if there is a deficiency or a restriction. If a person is inflexible or overweight, the heart has to work harder to push the blood through the veins and arteries. If a person is wearing high-heeled shoes, the feet can't flex to stimulate circulation. The feet can't flex for a proper heel-strike either. If a person's ribcage is compressed or collapsed with bad posture, then the vacuum pump of a full inhale is missing from the circulation process. Some of the consequences of breakdowns or deficiencies of any of the 5 ways could include: high blood pressure, varicose veins, cold feet, achy joints, achy legs, swelling in the feet, and swelling in the calves, just to name a few.
Perhaps you can see, that the solution to maximizing your circulation is to have good flexibility and great posture. Here are the Reposturing exercises that will give you the best results to improve circulation:
Foot Circles, Calf Stretch on Wall, Standing Quad Stretch, Step-Up Lunge, Side-Reaches, Torso Twist
