Hey this is Rick Kaselj from shoulderpainsolved.com. I got a question from a reader concerning head forward posture.

The question was simple:

“What can I do about Head Forward Posture?”

Let me go through a few things in this video for you:

What Happens to the Body When the Head Moves Forward?

Head forward posture is really common, especially with so many of us doing so many sitting things.

Examples of sitting stuff can be driving, computer work, playing on our smart phone.  Often times, all of this sitting, ends up leading to a head forward posture.

Head forward posture is when your head gravitates forward.

If I’m sitting here, the head ends up gravitating forward.  In the above video, I doing a head forward posture at an extreme.

With this head forward posture, what ends up happening is the neck extends and the head extends.  The head extends because the eyes always want to be looking on the horizon.

With this change in neck and head you end up having lengthening and weakness in the neck flexors.

The second thing that ends up happening is, with the head coming forward and the head coming back, we end up getting shortening or tightness in the muscles in the back of the neck.

What all this leads to is greater stress and strain on the muscles of the neck and shoulder.  This can lead to pain and injury in the neck and shoulder.

What Can We Do About A Head Forward Posture?

#1 – Chin Tucks

You can end up doing a very simple exercise called – chin tucks.

This brings the neck into  flexion and the head into flexion.

Key thing to remember is you are not brining the head back straight back but tucking it and elongating the back of the neck.  You will hold this position for a period of time and then repeat the exercise.

If you have had poor neck posture for some time, do not go crazy with this exercise as you could flare things up and it could lead to a headache.

About the chin tuck, what they found is performing ten repetitions of chin tucks will actually change the position of the head, in a good way.

This is a good exercise to do.

#2 – Stretch the Back of the Neck Out

Also you’re going to need to stretch out the muscles in the back of the neck.

One exercise that you can do is rotate the head to 45 and dropping the head down in order to look for stretch in the upper neck (upper fibers of the trapezius muscle).

#3 – Stay in Good Posture

The third thing is trying to work on is trying to keep yourself in a good posture.

Sum It All Up

There are three things you need to work on in order to counter head forward posture.  Sum it all up, you end up needing to working on strengthening those neck flexors, stretching out those neck extensors, and also trying to work on the habit of being in better posture throughout the day.

This is Rick Kaselj from shoulderpainsolved.com saying take care and bye bye.

If you have a question that you would like me to answer, send it on over via the contact tab above.

Rick Kaselj, MS