Today I want to address forward head posture. This is when the head starts traveling forward from the shoulders. We see it in a lot of older people. The dowager’s hump, the big hump on the back of the shoulders, becomes more pronounced with forward head posture. However, we are now starting to see it in a lot of teenagers. They’re getting things like “text neck” when their head is forward playing video games or staring at their phones. It’s really quite devastating to see the structure of the spine change. A couple studies have shown that
- Every inch that the head goes forward increases the weight by about 10 pounds. That’s 10 extra pounds that neck muscles have to hold! No wonder you get all those headaches and pains in those shoulders.
- Another study, which is even more devastating, is that older men were followed for 15 years. They found that those that lost 3 centimetres compared to those that lost 1 centimetre of their height had a 64% higher mortality rate. So, as they shrunk they literally had an increased risk of death. That’s not good odds. We want to avoid those as much as possible.
If you want to know more please check out the Stones River Chiropractic website or give us a call at the office. We can set up a consult for you to see if your forehead posture can be helped through chiropractic care.
*Check out our YouTube page to find a video about forward head posture and more subjects!
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/769543