Posture Correction and the Erection Connection

Posture Correction and the Erection Connection!

Those long hours at the desk could be the direct cause of your flaccid second brain—your not so happy ending. That’s erectile dysfunction people!

Our cultural evolution has surpassed our physical evolution, as we sit for long hours facing our computer monitors, hunched over phone screens, driving extended hours with Uber and Lyft, delivering goods with UPS and FEDEX trucks, or patrolling the streets in Cop cars; our external structure and internal organs are suffering!

The human body was made to move. Our spines developed for such the occasion…walking upright, carrying around our large brains, and having better use of our hands…hint, hint!

Walking around on two feet —bipedalism— is the most efficient strategy for locomotion, while our friends the chimpanzee require about 75% more energy when knuckle-walking with flexed knees and hips. We should be standing up and walking around, just ask the little mermaid! The seated position can have deteriorating effects on the body from the outside in, creating dysfunction and compensation of the skeletal system and the muscles and joints that support standing upright and mobility such as the core muscle and the glutes. Essentially creating muscle imbalances causing decreased neuromuscular control and allowing atrophy of the glute muscles and ptosis of the abdominal muscles—all of which leads to a big belly, a flat ass and a bad back. No Bueno!

To get a sense of the big picture, there are several interrelated systems and models of understanding at play. These models provide a means through which we can address issues of this human movement system and understand how the parts affect the whole. Five models of note are the Biomechanical model, the Neurologic model, the Respiratory/Circulatory model, the Psycho-behavioral model, and the Bioenergy model.

At the intersection of physics and biology is support for an unimpeded flow of communication between the big brain and the little brain. The communication is made possible by two channels of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS); the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and, Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS). The PNS is responsible for the erection and the SNS is responsible for the ejaculation part of the equation.

In grade school you learn about the bones, muscles, ligaments, and tendons that make up the human body, but it’s the fascia that keeps it all together. Fascia is connective tissue that does just that, it connects. The interconnected and interdependent fascial system dictates that you can’t put a kink in the hose at the source and think you’re going to flow.

The fascial system is like a capacitor and a resistor, storing and accumulating energy to its climax. Knots in the fascia and muscle tissue caused by sedentary immobility suppress (or even completely block) energy flow. These restrictions result in “trigger points” along your body, which you’ll experience as aching pain and discomfort. Worse, such restrictions in flow not only affect the myofascial (muscles and fascia) networks, but also the associated nerves and blood supply that is supports, like the muscles in your neck, back, hip flexors, glutes, and… oh yeah… your penis!

A Deeper dive into the blah…blah…SCIENCE!

Fascia is made up of cells and a gel-like matrix of fibers—similar to a cheese cloth submerged in Jell-O—called “ground substance”. Fascia binds and connects every muscle in the body; it also connects the muscles to tendons and bones to joints. It was previously thought that muscles transmit force through tendons to bones, yet it’s now understood that this force from muscles is distributed upon a fascial network which facilitates communication to synergist and antagonist muscles that assist in whatever movement is called upon at the time. Fascia is dynamic and ever changing with a dependance on the demands that are placed on it through forces, movement, and posture. This interdependence creates variability in the flexibility and optimal performance potential from person to person. Like pulling on one end of a tablecloth that is covered in dishes, from beginning to end each part of the tablecloth will be affected, either moving or breaking a dish. Imagine the nerves and vessels that travel from the brain and skull to the big toe and all the passageways and diaphragms they must traverse to create movement.

Think of the sitting position as creating a disruption in this tablecloth. Now with a head that is in an excessively forward position from the sitting posture there is compromise to the opening at the base of the skull (foramen magnum) where the brainstem exits and continues as the spinal cord, protected by the spinal column, to reach and communicate with their target organs, muscles and vessels. The longest of these nerves is the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve exists the skull through the jugular foreman and supplies the parasympathetic fibers that allow one to rest, digest and have an erection. The fascia that supports these structures can also restrict and cause a breakdown in the communication pathways meaning, “me no love you long time”!

The collection of nerves we can think of as highway systems that allow a two and sometimes three- and four-way communication from the central nervous system to the periphery and vice versa. The two most active nerves within the parasympathetic pathway for erection to take place are the vagus nerve (Cranial Nerve X) and the pudendal nerve that arises from the sacral region of the spinal cord at the level of S2-S4. The parasympathetic communication must traverse three diaphragms to get a rise out of your “sleeping soldier,” the first being the thoracic inlet, that can be restricted by tight upper trapezius muscles, rounded shoulders, anteriorly tipped scapula, a forward head posture and compensating cervical vertebrae. This is often the result of being in the seated position for long periods of time.

The second diaphragm the parasympathetic communication will encounter on its path is the respiratory diaphragm whose movement can be hindered by structural positioning or psychological factors such as anxiety, stress, fear, PTSD and depression, creating a protective posture where internal organs and structures are compressed.

The third diaphragm through which the parasympathetic communication must travel to influence the genitals is the pelvic floor diaphragm. This last part of the journey accompanied by the somatic nervous system—part of the peripheral nervous system—is facilitated by the pudendal nerve that arises from the sacral region of the spinal cord. It is through this final passage way that dreams and rainbows are made...aaaaaaaaahhh. The pelvic floor diaphragm can be compromised by the integrity of the muscles above and around, such as the abdominal musculature and the muscles that make up the lumbopevlic hip complex such as the quadratus lumborum, psoas and the glutes.

Fascia is divided into superficial fascia, deep fascia, and visceral fascia. The fascial system can be affected and restricted due to injury, surgery, poor posture, lack of mobility, inflammation, overuse and physical or emotional trauma.

When there is less structural compression within the thoracic cavity of the muscles, fascia, nerves and vessels there is freedom of movement within this region of joints, internal organs, vessels and muscles. Of particular importance is effective excursion of the diaphragm. This allows for effective breathing, oxygenation, respiration, thus enhances relaxation and the neurotransmitters that facilitate smooth muscle relaxation and subsequent erection.

This is where an integrated flexibility program and resistance training would help you, add life to your years, and not only achieve goals in the gym, but in the bedroom as you so desire.

That’s what she said!

There are indeed additional contributors to erectile dysfunction, but this structural contributor, i.e., sitting at that desk for way too long, and not getting your steps and reps in at the gym, is well within your capability to fix right now. So go ahead. Stand up and salute!

In Good Health,

XOXO!

Ruth Corfah

References

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