Dear Sloucher,
Rounding your shoulders and head is one of the worst things you can do to your body… please stop! With working-from-home becoming the norm now, I’m seeing increased cases of neck pain. A big reason why is due to the misalignment of your spine.
Two common misalignments of the cervical spine (neck) include protraction of the head (figure 1) and flexion of the head (figure 2). Protraction is when the head perches forward. One common reason people perch their head forward is to see their computer monitor more clearly. If you’re straining to see because your eyes are tired, you naturally compensate by perching your head forward. (Be sure to see an optometrist every two years to ensure you have the right corrective lens prescription.) Flexion of the head happens when you are looking down. This is just pure laziness! There is no good reason why we simply can’t bring our phones up a tad higher! Both these misalignments cause the neck muscles to work a lot harder than it was intended to.
Figure 1
Figure 2
The human head weighs 10-12 pounds. When stacked directly over the the spine, your neck muscles do not need to work. It’s the same reason we can stack rocks on top of one another. The center point of each vertebrae was designed to stack perfectly on top of one another so our muscles do not have to over work. Observe a standing baby, they have perfect posture of the neck because they have not developed muscles yet. Should they perch their head forward, they will lose balance and fall. The more your head deviates away from its center point, the heavier your head gets. For example, tilting your head down at a 30 degree angle makes your head weigh 40 pounds!! It’s no wonder you have neck pain, those poor neck muscles are being overworked!!!
So how do we fix this? Start by testing out how misaligned you are by standing with your back and feet against a wall. If you can keep your head at eye level, then you simply need to maintain good posture. If your head deviates forward more than an inch, you should be doing exercises to correct this. My favorite neck exercises can be seen below.
Good luck and if your pain persists, please contact me for a consultation.
To your health,
Kim
Comments