The basic laws of human physics involve the following factors:

* Alignment               * Coordination               * Strength
* Balance                   * Flexibility
* Compression           * Gravity

Let's relate these factors to situations we understand already:

Alignment: if gears in any machine are not in line, they cannot turn.

Balance: if automobile wheels are not balanced, the tires will wear.

Compression: Under the pressure of a heavy load, a hiker will fatigue more easily.

Coordination: In any sports team, each player has a specific but different job to do.  If players perform their jobs poorly or at an inappropriate time,  the result is generally failure.

Flexibility: a tree limb that is too rigid will break easily when exposed to the stress of wind or the additional weight of ice and snow.

Gravity: gravitational pull on our bodies eventually causes skin, muscles, and other body parts to droop and sag.

Strength: weak muscles allow bones to fall out of alignment. Weak muscles allow body organs to function inefficiently.

So, we are beginning to understand that these factors  relate to  your body and the way all of its organs work.  To increase this understanding, let's take a look at human anatomy (structure) and human physiology (function). Consider these assumptions:

* Your skeletal system is the foundation of your body.  All soft tissue is then attached and/or hanging onto these bones.

* When your bones are in alignment, muscles, organs, and blood vessels will also be in the best position to do their coordinated jobs.

* When your muscles are strong and conditioned, they help to hold other body tissue to your skeleton framework.

* With both an aligned skeletal system and a healthy muscular system, your body will have  balance, flexibility, coordination, and better resist the ravages of gravity.

Have you ever observed how one thing leads to another?  Consider this scenario:
Your spine is kinked and out of alignment. This causes your abdomen to sag.  This causes your liver, kidneys, spleen, and intestines to be cramped and compressed.  They cannot function properly.  The drooping abdomen also pulls down the heart and lungs.  Your circulatory and pulmonary system are strained.  This puts added stress on your organs and circulatory problems for your limbs.  The misalignment also contributes to pressure on the lower back. 

Here are some easy-to-live-with rules that you can follow to improve posture and some muscle tone:

1. Make sure your sitting posture at work and home is good: head ,neck, and back straight with shoulders back. A firm chair with a good back supporting cushion can make this task easier, but a lot of the responsibility rests on you to hold the position.

2. Practice at least one upper back strengthening exercise and one abdominal flattening, hardening exercise.  Setups or crunches are NOT good because they increase the slouching curve of the upper back.

3. Retain a health professional that reinforces the concept of good body and spinal mechanics.

4. Start believing and concentrate on the reality that the human body has some self maintaining and self healing powers.

5. Think Health...not disease.  The mind has powers you haven't even tried yet.  Don't be trapped by the concept that health comes from treating symptoms. 

6.  Good health is not a gift.  It takes work.