Ash Berry and Rob Carruthers are highly regarded Pilates Practitioners in Australia. Through their explorations of alternative health practices, they've been able to create an incredible community of curious movers seeking to improve their overall health.
How many times have you heard someone say to sit up straight, or pull your shoulders back? Many people complain about having bad posture, but they don’t truly understand what that means. Prolonged periods of sedentary behaviour can result in muscle discomfort, or wastage in extreme situations. But majority of the time, our posture isn’t bad, it’s the general lack of movement that creates the discomfort. Posture is not just about muscles and bones; it's a complex interplay between multiple systems in the body and our emotional, mental and gut health. Two critical players in this dynamic are the visual and vestibular systems. These systems constantly communicate and function at an incredibly high level to ensure we maintain balance, alignment, and the ability to move efficiently. Understanding their interaction offers valuable insights into how we maintain stability and posture in a constantly changing environment.
The vestibular system: Your internal gyroscope
The vestibular system, located in the inner ear, is our body's balance control center. It consists of a labyrinth of canals filled with crystals and fluid that detect the constant changes in the movement of our hear. These structures sense acceleration, deceleration, and the orientation of the head in space, sending signals to the brain to adjust posture accordingly.
For example, when you tilt your head, the vestibular system activates muscles to stabilize your body and keep you upright. It works seamlessly with the proprioceptive system (sensory feedback from muscles and joints) to maintain balance and prevent falls. It is hypothesised that the vast majority of our muscular effort is designated to the correction of our body relative to a movement, rather than the movement we are intending on completing itself.
The visual system: Eyes on the prize
While the vestibular system helps us sense orientation, the visual system provides the external reference point. Our eyes take in visual information from the environment, helping us align our body with vertical and horizontal cues. If you’re standing on a slope, for instance, your visual system tells you the ground isn’t level, prompting your body to adjust its posture to maintain equilibrium.
The visual system is particularly influential when vestibular feedback is insufficient. Imagine walking in a dark room—without clear visual input, you may feel disoriented or unsteady because your brain relies more heavily on vestibular and proprioceptive feedback.
How they work together
The visual and vestibular systems collaborate closely to ensure a stable posture. This connection is most evident in a reflex called the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). The VOR stabilizes images on the retina during head movements. For example, if you quickly turn your head to the right, the VOR ensures your eyes move to the left, keeping your visual focus steady.
This reflex is essential for activities like reading while walking or maintaining gaze during exercise. Without this seamless interaction, movements would blur our vision, making it difficult to maintain balance and orientation.
The impact on posture
When either the visual or vestibular system is compromised, posture and balance can suffer. Visual impairments, such as poor depth perception or uncorrected vision, can lead to compensatory postures like tilting the head or leaning forward. Similarly, vestibular dysfunction can result in dizziness, unsteadiness, or a tendency to favour one side, all of which disrupt alignment.
Conditions like vestibular neuritis or vision changes due to aging are common culprits that challenge these systems. More longterm issues that are often overlooked include astigmatism or hearing imbalance, that results in a small but constant favouring of movement to one side. In the long term, this can result in one foot being flat, twisted hips and shoulders, and imbalance in shoulder height. The body may compensate with altered movement patterns, which over time can lead to muscular imbalances and strain.
Integrating awareness into movement
By understanding how these systems interact, we can improve posture through targeted exercises. Pilates and somatic movement practices, for example, often incorporate head and eye movement coordination, enhancing the visual-vestibular relationship.
At Movementality, we recognize the value of addressing these systems in personalized sessions. Whether through vestibular exercises or intentional gaze shifts during movement, integrating this awareness empowers clients to achieve better alignment, balance, and body confidence in their daily lives.
By nurturing the relationship between our visual and vestibular systems, we can not only improve posture but also unlock a sense of ease and fluidity in how we move through the world.
Stay tuned for our next article with 5 simple exercises to immediately improve your posture and your strength.
Read more from Robert Carruthers and Ashleigh Berry
Robert Carruthers and Ashleigh Berry, Pilates Practitioners
With Rob's blend of sports science and Functional Neurology training and Ash's Dance and Somatic Movement Therapy training, their Pilates sessions are always multi-faceted and multi-dimensional and cover a broad range of health interests that go beyond simply stretching and strengthening our bodies.
Their combined knowledge based has facilitated many life-changing journeys for their clients, and has resulted in being recognised names across the Australian Pilates scene. Their work also extends to facilitating world-class yet affordable professional development opportunities to Pilates Practitioners across Australia and online.
