A Free Alternative
to Expensive Postural Assessments

July 6th, 2011

Without feedback, you simply can’t make progress toward a goal. It’s like coding without the occassional compile and run. Non-geek translation: It’s dumb.

Unfortunately, feedback is in short supply for folks looking to improve their posture. To remedy that issue, this article outlines a homebrew solution I developed for measuring spinal curvature at home, for free.

Before we look at my system for measuring spinal curvature, let’s take a quick look at what’s currently available:

Chiropractic assessment: $60-160 + time + inconvenience
Radiographic imaging (X-ray): $40-160 (in addition to chiropractor fee) + time + inconvenience
Inclinometer assessment: $60-1000 + expertise needed
Kypholordometer assessment: sheesh, don’t bother

These options are paltry. Regular people will not pay these prices, especially if they have to drive across town and read soiled magazines in anticipation of the experience. Afterall, the best medical treatments available (insulin, antibiotics, etc.) work by virtue of their cheapness, as much as their mechanism of action.

My goals are then to:

1. Reduce or eliminate the cost of measurement equipment
2. Adapt human spinal assessment so it can be preformed at home
3. Find an excuse to program something

In other words, I want to hack together a solution!

The Nature of Posture

Before we can go ahead and assess our own posture, we need to understand a few things.

Posture is your body’s way of reacting to gravity. It is also governed by an complex system of bones, muscles, and other physiological features. Not surprisingly, your stance changes all the time. For example, you tend to be taller in the morning as your spine has had a chance to decompress while sleeping. Muscular fatigue and tension, such as sitting in a chair for hours can also affect your posture dramatically.

Why do I mention all of this? To illuminate the variance of results. If you compare a measurement of the spine in the morning with one taken after a day of desk work, you may well be confused by the contrasting data. The best bet is to A) note the circumstances of measurement, B) diversify the measurement techniques, C) take several measurements at various times for data comparison, and D) interpret everything with a grain of salt.

Lastly, remember, “A physician who treats himself has a fool for a patient.” We’re doing geometry here, not medicine.

Now that we have that out of the way…

A Free Way to Measure Spinal Curvature at Home

I was thinking about how to mimic spinal assessment at home and realized one of the most popular methods is also one of the simplest: inclinometry. Inclinometry measures the incline of your back at various points and creates an outline using simple geometry. Brilliant!

Of course an inclinometer is a specialized tool which can sell for hundreds or more. Forget that. It’s just a level with an angle readout. Where else can we find something like that?

The iPhone and iPod Touch.

And I guess other phones too.

I realized you could download a free bubble level app (example pictured), measure your spine in various locations and use some simple geometry to document your spinal curvature. I didn’t want to have to break out my slide rule every time I did this, so I programmed a web-based calculator, which you will see below.

Here’s the technique:

1. Get an assistant, an iPhone/iPod Touch/Android/whatever with an angle measurement app*, a flat ruler, and a pen and pad. Lose the shirt ideally.
2. Have your assistant place the device widthwise, starting at the base of the skull, and read out the angle measurement.



3. Record the angle on paper without moving your back. Keep your arms down low and relaxed.
4. Holding the ruler to mark the bottom of the device, have your assistant move to the next measurement segment.
5. Enter the angles from each segment in the form below. It’s ok if some boxes are left blank; you’d have to be very tall to need them all.

* Angle measurement apps (sometimes called “Level” apps) are easy to find and oftentimes free. Be sure to first calibrate the app with an old-fashioned bubble level or a reliably level surface.

[posturechartform]

After completing this form, you should have a rudimentary picture of your spinal profile. An example is shown. The file includes the date and notes for easy reference. Save the image and compare it against newer ones as time goes by. You can even import your files as layers in a graphics editing program so you can overlay the images and see the changes over time.

By the way, you will not see any positive changes unless you do something about your posture! Even if that means you have to buy something, at least your expenses are offset by money saved on postural assessments.

Now, in no way am I suggesting that this method is as (accurate || good || reliable) as a professional assessment. It’s not. But with some sensibility, the data gathered from this method can be useful.

There you have it. Contact me if you find this useful, or terribly buggy.