How your postures affect your life
In the image on the left, the first scene (top left) represents the «perfect» head posture. A line taken from the center of the external auditory meatus (EAM) and leading directly to the center of the shoulder (the tip of the acromion process). The graph on the right demonstrates the progression of posture as the head is tilted. head forward (occasionally referred to as “anterior head translation”).
According to Rene Cailliet M. D., noted medical writer and former chair of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Southern California State University: «Adopting a forward head posture can add up to 13 kg of abnormal force to the cervical spine. This can cause the entire column to be misaligned.
How does it affect?
Maintaining the forward head posture (FHP) can result in the loss of 30% of lung capacity. These breathing-related effects are mainly due to the loss of cervical lordosis, which blocks the action of the hyoid musculature, especially the lower hyoid responsible for helping to lift the first rib during inhalation.».
A persistent forward head posture (aka «hyperkyphotic posture») adds compressive loads on the upper thoracic vertebra, and is also associated with the development of an upper thoracic hump, which can develop into a Dowager hump when the vertebrae develop compression fractures (anterior compression of the vertebra).
A recent study found that this posture hyperkyphotic was associated with a higher rate of 1.44 mortality. It is not uncommon to observe 2” of anterior head displacement in new patients.
What would it cause you to wear a 9kg watermelon around your neck?
Neck pain is what forward head posture can do to your neck. If not corrected, the FHP will continue to deteriorate. Chiropractic can be very corrective, especially in the hands of a chiropractor who has studied in the United States. Our specialty is reversing joint fixations (what we refer to as «joint fixations").«subluxations«) and in reactivating the muscles that normally retract the head.
Marc Bony, DC
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