Do you have tech neck?
Do you spend hours per day staring at a screen?
If so, you may be experiencing headaches, eye issues and difficulty moving your arms overhead.
Diagnosis: tech neck.
A posture long ago associated with old people but now seen in teenagers. Head and neck poked forward like a chicken. It comes with a side of a rounded upper back and a flattened cervical curve.
You may be sitting there right now in some kind of cognitive dissonance comforting yourself that this isn’t you. You may pull yourself together and sit up straight.
That should help for about a minute.
You see it’s a habit. It’s a program in your brain about how you organize yourself in relationship to gravity. And all your muscles, joints and connective tissue have gone to the office manager and asked for a new job.
Many of the muscles on the back of the body which are designed to extend the spine and draw the shoulder blades into their optimal position on the back of the rib cage have become overworked and are just hanging on. Conversely, the muscles on the front of the chest that are designed to provide pushing power have now been assigned to help the overworked guys on the back to keep the whole structure from toppling forward.
Muscles will pitch hit for a while but over a period of time, they either become neurologically impaired and inhibited or chronically active and facilitated. In the body, this causes both pain and loss of function.
The neck and shoulders are the home plate of this dysfunctional relationship with gravity.
Chiropractors, massage therapists and osteopaths make this their bread and butter.
Get Your Head On Straight!
Your head weighs ten to twelve pounds. Every inch your head migrates forward adds an additional ten pounds of pressure on your spine.
It’s what Bodyworker Eric Dalton calls the “42-pound head”. He quotes Rene Caillet MD, former director of physical medicine and rehabilitation at UCLA.
Head in forward position:
adds up to 30 pounds of abnormal leverage on the cervical spine
results in loss of 30 percent of lung capacity. Menopausal women can add 20 percent on top of that as a gift for going through menopause.
gastrointestinal system becomes agitated resulting in constipation
He says you need to fix posture from the head through proper alignment education. (Here’s where I come in)!!!
Forward head also puts immense stress on the muscles of the jaw and eyes contributing to headaches, TMJ and balance disorders.
“ 90% of the brain’s energy is used in relating the physical body to gravity. Only 10% has to do with thinking, metabolism and healing.” According to Dr Richard Sperry ( Nobel Prize Recipient for Brain Research).
“As a result of a forward head, the brain will take energy from thinking, immune function and metabolism. Degenerative neck pain is a major contributor to balance disorders and some believe cognitive disorders.
Dalton says that keeping your eyes on the horizon is a basic life-preserving reflex.
DIY…stuff you can do to help.
While you may think that the only solution for your neck is having someone else manipulate or rub it, there is a lot you can do to restore optimal posture and function to this area of the body.
A daily movement hygiene practice of lengthening the overly locked short muscles around the shoulder girdle and neck is just half the solution. The other important component is turning on the sleepy muscles that no longer support the upper torso.
As I disclosed earlier I have a neck that has its issues. That’s why I’ve developed a movement practice that helps you prevent any further deterioration and improve your head and neck function for the rest of your life.
These exercises are not about lifting heavy weights or something that you rush through while you are talking on the phone. In order to change how your body communicates with your brain, you need to pay attention.
We will use a hardcover book, a towel and a two-pound weight or water bottle in this class.
Are you game?