Forward head posture, aka text neck, is a huge problem in our society today. SO much so that it literally has it’s own diagnosis codes, along with being bitten by a parrot. What a time to be alive. This is something that develops over a long time. Here’s how…
Causes of Forward Head Posture:
Weak muscles on the front of the neck
These are your ‘deep neck flexors’ and they help to keep the head pulled back into a more neutral position
Tight muscles on the front of the shoulder and chest
These are your pecs and deltoids. When they are tight or disproportionately strong, they will keep the shoulder girdle pulled forward and round the upper back.
Tight and/or overworking upper traps
As the head moves forward and the shoulders are pulled forward, the upper traps are going to be put on tension. This draws your shoulders up even further.
This can also happen when your upper traps are just too strong for their own good. They try to take over the job of some of your postural muscles in the upper back. They don’t do a good job with this and it makes them mad.
Weak muscles of the upper back and rotator cuff
These are the guys that keep our spine upright and our shoulderblades pulled into a strong & stable position.
When they aren’t doing their job, the other things we have already mentioned will run haywire.
These muscles have to be in balance with the muscles of the front and top of the shoulder. If not, they get overwhelmed and don’t do their job.
When not addressed, this type of posture can lead to some chronic issues:
Headaches
Shoulder impingement
Rotator cuff pathology
Cervical spine / upper back pain
Weakness and/or pain when lifting overhead
Not only that, but you are going to find that lifting a barbell overhead in a good position becomes pretty damn hard.
Fortunately, we can fix this by doing the opposite of everything we have talked about:
Strengthen up the deep neck flexors
Strengthen up the rotator cuff and postural muscles of the upper back
Stretch out the pecs, delts and upper traps
Mobilize the joints of the upper back, neck and shoulders
Don’t buy into those posture harnesses and braces. They aren’t going to fix anything, just mask it. It takes a plan of action to get these chronic issues corrected and consistency with that plan. It is totally doable though!