In the practice of physical therapy posture is a concept frequently used in examining people and determining if treatment, particularly for back and neck problems, has made any changes in a person.
Posture is the result of many underlying processes and tensional relationships throughout the body.
As such posture becomes a measure of the overall balances in the body and can be used as a tool to assess if interventions have resulted in a change in overall body balance. The center of the knee is slightly in front of that line. This arrangement is viewed as indicating that a person's overall structure is in good mechanical balance. Variations from this ideal give the therapist clues as to areas of the body that do not permit the full mechanical ability for which they are designed. Posture in Physical Therapy is a concept that is seen as a means to get a summary assessment of overall tensional and structural balance in a person.