Forward Head Posture:

What It Is and How to Treat It

We spend a lot of time hunched over. For many of us our working hours involve staring at computer screens and keyboards. Then we go home and scroll through our social media feeds and news articles on our phones. The average American spends over seven hours a day staring at a screen, mostly on their phones. That is over two and a half thousand hours a year looking down.

Forward head posture is the chronic habit of hunching forward, then compensating by lifting our chin. When our spine is not in alignment this adds excess weight to the muscles and bones of our neck which over time will cause injury. Imagine holding a bowling ball. If you put your wrist and elbow directly under it you can hold the ball without too much effort. But try and hold even a ten pound ball at an angle. Very soon you’re going to feel it.

In exactly the same way research has found that forward head posture increases the load on the spine and neck muscles tremendously. A fifteen degree forward head posture increases load by 100%! Common symptoms caused by forward head posture are:

·         Localized soreness, tightness and pain

·         Headaches and migraines

·         Jaw pain

·         Structural skeletal disorders

·         Cervical spine degeneration

·         Dizziness and blurriness of vision

·         Nausea

Exhausted muscles will ache and the result is pain. If the condition is bad enough it can result in permanent changes to the structure of the spine. To correct this let’s look at the muscles involved and stretches we can do to help lengthen them.

Trapezius
The traps deal with a lot. Especially with stress we tend to scrunch up our shoulders, and chronic bad posture rolls our shoulders forward contributing to the problem. Exercises: ear to shoulder, crocodile pose, cat-cow pose.

Longissimus Captis
This is the muscle that is responsible for pains occurring right behind the ear in that bony notch that runs deep by the neck. Sometimes it can seem hard to get your thumb in there to pinpoint it. The muscle runs tight along the spine to C7 at the base of your neck, and then stretches further down to the middle of your back at T5. Exercises: ear to shoulder, front and back isometric stretches, chin to chest, chin tucks.

Levator Scapula
The levator scapulae is an often ignored cause of neck pain. It actually inserts at the scapula and connect to the mid-neck. The pain you feel is that ache behind the shoulder right at the top of your shoulder blade, and deep under the traps where your shoulder meets your neck. Exercises: modified ear to shoulder (chin to hip), shoulder rolls.

Splenius Capitis
Often irritated in cases of whiplash and looking up from compensation of forward head posture, this muscle causes pain right at the base of the skull and the mid neck. Like the Trapezius the splenius capitis is responsible for a lot of what are called occipital headaches, or headaches at the base of the skull. Exercises: head rolls, resistance lateral head rotation, modified ear to shoulder (ear to armpit), chin to chest.

A host of other muscles are also involved, including the scalenes, pectoralis minor muscles, deep neck flexors and more. Many of the above stretches will lengthen those that are chronically shortened and tightened the ones that are loose. The key is consistency, and correcting bad posture over the long term.

Now most people aren’t trained in anatomy. Without knowledge of the proper muscles to stretch and the proper way to stretch them, the pain can become chronic. This is when acupuncture shines. It helps in several ways; by improving localized blood flow for tissue repair, releasing muscle tension through twitch response, activating sinew channels to correct imbalance, reducing overall inflammation, and addressing underlying causes like stress and anxiety. Practitioners may choose to use other very effective modalities as well. Cupping, for instance, is especially well suited for musculoskeletal issues like forward head posture.

You can begin the process of recovery immediately with the exercises above and doing routine scans of your posture throughout the day. If you feel as though you need more guidance or intervention, traditional Chinese medicine can be an excellent option. I know this for a fact because it’s how I got my neck pain under control and I’d love to do the same for you.