Music Massage by Ms Miny Janssen-Schreurs, President, Cidesco Section Netherlands

Miny Janssen-Schreus has been involved in the industry since 1980 when she started a skin care institute in the Netherlands known as Centrum Beauty Limburg where she is founder and owner. Currently she is the President of CIDESCO Netherlands Section and she teaches a self-developed course.

POSTURE AND THE SKIN OR BODY CARE PROFESSIONAL

By Pat Lam, B.Sc., Vice President, Skin Care Consultants, Toronto, Canada, Board Certified AntiAging Health Practitioner, Cidesco International Examiner, Author of “ Practical Nutrition for the Health and Beauty Professional”, “Nutrition: The Healthy Aging Solution” and “Minor Skin Irregularities”, Certified fitness instructor and Personal Trainer, creator of “AntiAging Mind/Body Massage” and “Facial Massage for Different Skin Types”. She was awarded a Cidesco Gold Medal for her “Stress Therapy for facial treatments”.

Contact Pat at toll free: (877) 694-9777, email: plam@lamskin.com and check her website: www.lamskin.com

Good posture makes you look young and strong while poor posture makes you look old and weak! The first impression developed on meeting someone with a bent over posture is that of a weak or aging person. Good posture is so important to one’s health and wellness and the esthetician’s working stance is impacted by many variations of posture when working on clients. The following information will make you more aware of the postural faults that the esthetician even a young therapist can develop while performing her tasks, and if not corrected early in the career, these figure faults can lead to an aging appearance. Being informed and correcting these postural faults can be part of an antiaging strategy.

A great number of esthetic services entails to a large extent, bending forward to perform several treatments on clients throughout the day. We sit, stand, walk, kneel, twist, turning our bodies in awkward positions to perform our services during manicures, pedicures, skin treatments, lash or brow tinting, massage, waxing and a myriad of various tasks. Posture applies not only to standing but also to sitting at a desk, or bending to pick up a heavier object such as a paraffin pot or whirlpool. Electrolysis can be targeted as the one service that requires an extreme leaning forward position and is most taxing on the body. Constant deviation from the “ideal posture” or proper body alignment may lead to several postural faults developed overtime and include forward head tilt, round shoulders, kyphosis or lordosis, sagging breasts and protruding abdomen.  It is not surprising to find out that after many years of work, an esthetician may develop poor posture without realizing it. This constant stress on the neck, shoulders and lower back can eventually take a toll leading to discomfort and pain at a later period in our career. Several electrologists have had to retire early from the profession because of back problems developed from poor posture from work. This poor physical image may be exacerbated by poor lifestyle habits such as sedentary lifestyle, drinking, smoking and insufficient sleep. A common excuse for leading an inactive lifestyle often include not having any time left in the day to exercise because of long hours in the workplace.

Posture and Wellness

 

Posture plays a vital role in the activities of daily living, standing, walking, or sitting. Factors such as genetics and mood may have effects on our postural alignment as well. For example, when we feel tired, stressed or rejected, we tend to slouch forward but when we feel happier, we are more likely to have a more cheerful, uplifted posture. Standing or sitting with good posture opens the chest for increased oxygen intake, strengthens the postural muscles and improve one’s mood. Good posture also gives an air of confidence and strength and is an advantage particularly for smaller sized individuals. People tend to be wary and respectful of people who look and act confident.

In today’s health conscious society, treating the body holistically is becoming essential to good health, particularly since the esthetic profession is now being advertised as “wellness”. How can we offer wellness if we ourselves do not practice it? We perform face and body treatments on our clients who expect to receive sound advice on nutrition and exercise from us. While estheticians may not be nutritionists or fitness instructors, they should have a sound knowledge of how to achieve a strong healthy body and this is equated with good posture. Before embarking on any exercise program, the posture needs to be assessed and corrected so that effective breathing patterns can be used during the exercise. If exercises are not effective with poor posture, the working muscles would not be able have sufficient oxygen to metabolize the energy and this leads to early fatigue. It is the muscular system that supports the body and not the skeletal bones so it is possible to use corrective exercises to rectify the postural fault. Physiologically the spine is the major support system of our skeleton and together with ligaments, tendons and skeletal muscles, it is constantly struggling to hold up the body against the force of gravity. Numerous muscles are attached to bone to execute a variety of movements.

Physiology of muscles

 

Muscles work in pairs and several muscles are involved in any one movement. The muscles that actively contracts are known as the agonist or prime movers while the muscles that hold the joint in place are called the antagonists. Other small muscles around the joint referred to as synergist muscles act to control the muscular movement. For example, when you flex your elbow, the biceps contract (agonist) and become shortened while the triceps (antagonist) stretches. The surrounding muscles around the joint (synergists) work together with surrounding ligaments to help stabilize the joint during the movement. Muscles that are used repetitively become tight and are overly strong while the unused muscles become overstretched and weakened leading to uneven joint movement that creates strain in the area and ultimately lead to discomfort and pain.

To Be Continued...