Greg uses the phrase “the upside down” to describe a pattern of compensation that he believes can develop when oral posture begins to break down.
When the tongue remains low instead of resting against the palate, Greg believes the posture below the head may also begin to adapt.
In his model, the tongue no longer creates the same internal “loft” supporting the head and neck. The body then searches for other ways to maintain stability.
Muscles stretch, strain, tighten, and pull as the body attempts to hold itself upright.
The Misalignment Tax
Greg describes the accumulated cost of these compensations as a “misalignment tax.”
The longer a person functions within a compensated pattern, the more layers the body may create to continue moving, breathing, and remaining upright.
These adaptations can eventually become deeply familiar to the nervous and movement systems.
Greg compares the body to a tangled puppet. Each compensation influences another area, potentially reinforcing asymmetry and changing how the person experiences their center, balance, and movement.
This is Greg’s conceptual model. Posture, pain, balance, breathing, and movement can be influenced by many medical, neurological, musculoskeletal, vestibular, visual, environmental, and behavioral factors. Tongue posture should not be assumed to be the cause of an individual’s symptoms.
Unwinding Compensation
Greg believes that changing long-standing patterns may require more than addressing one structure.
He describes two broad sides of the process:
- Improving the available airway and oral structure when clinically appropriate
- Retraining function, movement, breathing, and nervous-system patterns
Greg informally describes these as the “hardware” and “software” sides of the system.
The structural side may include evaluation by appropriately qualified dental, orthodontic, airway, sleep, or medical professionals.
The functional side may involve appropriately trained rehabilitation, physical-therapy, breathing, feeding, speech, or myofunctional professionals depending on the person’s needs.
The Suspension-System Analogy
Greg compares a tongue that fits comfortably against the palate with a suspension system providing internal support.
He also compares the oral seal to the valve inside a running toilet: when the valve seals, the system can restore pressure.
In Greg’s model, a comfortable tongue-to-palate relationship and appropriate oral pressure may contribute to a greater sense of internal support.
Some people may report feeling more upright or balanced after receiving appropriate treatment. However, individual experiences vary, and these responses should not be treated as guaranteed outcomes.
From Survival Toward Efficiency
Greg’s larger message is about the energy required to maintain compensation.
When the body no longer needs to rely on as many compensatory strategies, movement and breathing may feel easier.
That does not mean every postural or movement problem begins in the airway, tongue, or jaws.
It means those systems may deserve consideration as part of a broader, qualified evaluation when symptoms, history, and clinical findings suggest a possible connection.
The “upside down” is Greg’s way of asking parents and professionals to look beyond isolated symptoms and consider how multiple systems may be adapting together.
