Dr. Butwell Improves Forward Head Posture with Georgetown Chiropractic Care and Exercise
Dr. Butwell speculates that you are experiencing most likely one of these things right now: tight jaw, stiff shoulders creeping up to your ears, chin tilting down, head projecting forward on your neck. And if you are on your cellphone reading this, you are likely doing all of these at once! Forward head carriage or forward head posture (that Wikipedia (1) refers to as “Justin Bieber Head” and "iHunch"!) is common to most all of us. Cell phone use, unsuitable computer screen set-up, and stress may all contribute. This posture causes our 10 pound heads to stick out and off of our necks. Not a pretty vision or healthy state! Dr. Butwell can help!
FORWARD HEAD CARRIAGE / FORWARD NECK POSTURE EXPLAINED
What is it? Forward head carriage happens when your neck pushes forward over your first spinal vertebra, C1 (cervical vertebra 1). Each inch forward boosts the weight on your neck by 10 pounds. (2) That adds up! What results? Neck pain. Shoulder stiffness. Pain between the shoulders. Fatigue. Headache. Arm pain. Jaw pain. Do you feel it?
FORWARD HEAD CARRIAGE / FORWARD NECK POSTURE HELPED
What makes it better? It may appear that since it is a neck issue treating the neck and focusing on the neck itself only would help most in fixing the issue and any related pain. A group of researchers demonstrated that this is not really the case. They compared neck mobilization treatment (plus stabilization exercise) to thoracic spine (upper back) mobilization treatment (plus stabilization exercise. They discovered that using thoracic spine mobilization treatment plus stabilization exercise worked better. Pain, disability, and global rating of change by patients all got better along with their craniovertebral angle when standing as well as their cervical extension posture. (3) Dr. Butwell uses Cox® Technic, a gentle stretching treatment for the neck and thoracic spine that is very effective for spinal issues like this. Dr. Butwell makes certain that our Georgetown chiropractic patients with forward head posture have their thoracic spines treated! Dr. Butwell also urges our [[targeltocation]] chiropractic care patients with forward head carriage to do their share, too, by doing the stabilization and other recommended exercises!
SIMPLE TIPS FOR FORWARD NECK POSTURE CORRECTION
A few simple things help enormously. Line up your computer screen level with your eye level. Stretch often while performing sedentary work (computer, desk, TV). Consciously modify your standing posture so you are upright. Lean into a wall with your shoulders, head, hips all touching the wall. Listen and carefully perform any neck strengthening exercises your Georgetown chiropractor recommends. Dr. Butwell will make sure the exercises are simple so our Georgetown chiropractic patients will do them!
CONTACT Dr. Butwell
Listen to this PODCAST of a neck and arm pain patient helped with cervical spine Cox® Technic treatment!
Schedule a Georgetown chiropractic visit at Dr. Butwell for your forward head carriage or forward head posture. Dr. Butwell supposes that you have already helped yourself after reading this article! Dr. Butwell guesses that you stretched your head up, relaxed your shoulders down, and tucked your chin back as soon as you read the first paragraph. The first step of change is recognizing that it’s needed!
