Ever look at yourself in the mirror and think “Why am I so slouchy?” It seems like a repetitive daily event in my office where I will do an analysis on a patient seeing their neck substantial drawn forward and looking downward and their shoulders slouched over. Then, I will look at their x-rays and sure enough their cervical neck curves are completely reversing. Surprisingly, this isn’t just found in a random 1 or 2 patients a month; but it is found in the majority of all the patients I see daily. While many think this “slouching” posture has little impact besides simply being unattractive; the truth is, it play a huge role in your health.
For ever inch your head moves forward, it gains 10 pounds in weight. This means that the muscles in your upper back and neck are forced to work extremely hard to keep your head up. The suboccipital muscles (the muscles at the base of your skull) are severely impacted with this extra tension from the neck as it causes them to compress nerves and blood vessels in the neck that are responsible for migraines, headaches, and sinus pressure.
Rene Cailliet M.D., famous medical author and former director of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Southern California states:
“Head in forward posture can add up to thirty pounds of abnormal leverage on the cervical spine. This can pull the entire spine out of alignment. Forward head posture (FHP) may result in the loss of 30% of vital lung capacity. These breath-related effects are primarily due to the loss of the cervical lordosis, which blocks the action of the hyoid muscles, especially the inferior hyoid responsible for helping lift the first rib during inhalation.”
It’s not uncommon to observe 2″ of anterior head placement in new patients. Would you be surprised that your neck and shoulders hurt if you had a 20-pound watermelon hanging around your neck? That’s what forward head posture can do to you. Left uncorrected, forward head posture will continue to decline. Chiropractic can be very corrective, especially in the hands of a chiropractic rehabilitationist. At Optimal Chiropractic in Crown Point, Indiana our specialty is in reversing the joint fixations, and in re-invigorating the muscles that normally retract the head. Stop in to our office or contact us at 219-661-8680 to see how your forward head carriage could be severely effecting your health. Also check out our new patient specials at www.crownpointchiro.com.
