Questions about correcting forward head posture

July 21, 2010 2:07 PM

What's the process of correcting forward head posture like?

I'm 20 years old and I've just recently noticed how terrible my posture is--even when I attempt to stand up straight. What sort of doctor should I see to help me with my forward head posture? From past threads, it seems like a physical therapist would be the best person to consult--but what about a chiropractor? Should correcting this problem take multiple visits (more than three)? I ask because I'm a college student who attends school in the middle of nowhere and I don't have a car on campus, so if I need to visit a doctor several times, I'm thinking I should wait until next summer.

To what extent can forward head posture be corrected? Would it possible for me to achieve a straightened spine and non-rounded shoulders, or will my years of slouching prevent this from ever completely happening?

posted by AndGee to Health & Fitness (15 answers total)

A lot of it is retraining muscles in the neck, back, stomach and shoulders that have gone slack from years of disuse. A physical therapist could help, but so too could a personal trainer. Since you're in school, you must have access to a gym on campus. Perhaps they have inexpensive training there, or general weightlifting classes.
posted by gabrielsamoza at 2:12 PM on July 21, 2010

Best answer: AndGee: Would it possible for me to achieve a straightened spine and non-rounded shoulders

Yes, but it may take a while. Your problem is most likely related to behavior, not anatomy. Two things helped me personally in this way- martial arts and yoga. Both require a high sense of awareness of self and balance. Yoga, in particular, stresses "opening up" the body in various ways.
posted by mkultra at 2:24 PM on July 21, 2010 [2 favorites]

You'll need to do exercises. You'll probably also need to reconfigure your desk/computer position/chair and change your sitting and working habits. All this takes time. Maybe a physical or occupational therapist could give you some exercises to do on your own, until you are able to go for regular visits.
posted by the_blizz at 2:52 PM on July 21, 2010

It will take months, to years, but you should do it.
In addition to the above suggestions, sports like dance and equestrian are also very focused on retraining people to have good posture.

The bulk of it will involve continually reminding yourself to correct your posture as you walk, sit, etc. Soon enough it'll become enough of a habit that over the next few years, your physique will adapt to match.

Different people respond best to different approaches. When starting out, that might be as simple as push your head back (not up, but backwards, as if your head were sitting on a conveyor belt) further than feels right, always. Eventually you'll get to the point where you don't push your head back, you push your chest up, which pushes your head back. Then you'll get to the point where your phsyique makes it natural to have your chest up, and your head back.
The best methods to achieve this will depend on what clicks with you.

But it's not just about your neck. You'll want to improve the posture of your whole body.
posted by -harlequin- at 3:24 PM on July 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

Like you, I have terrible posture (and good for you for wanting to fix it while you're still young!) which has developed into various aches and pains in middle age. I've had quite good results for pain relief from Egoscue exercises. Their approach is based on fixing the underlying cause, which often is lousy posture, and although they mostly treat clients for pain they also work with people who want to straighten up already.

Anyway, for many people fixing pain means fixing posture, so you might find Egoscue's method very helpful. If there's no facility in your area you can check out his books. Pain Free is obviously pitched at people who are hurting, but it's a handy simplified version of The Egoscue Method: Health Through Motion, which is more about posture but a little harder to figure out (halp, which exercises should I do for my particular condition?)

MeMail me if you want more details.
posted by Quietgal at 3:29 PM on July 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm paying now for years of bad posture while using a microscope and working hunched over a lab bench. My fingers went numb and were hurting, and I was thinking arthritis. It turns out that the vertebrae of my neck were compressing the nerves affecting my whole arm.

I am in the care of a physical therapist, working twice a day in strengthening the muscles of my back and neck: I ice the area down after exercises to prevent further irritation. It is working, I'm happy even if I have to do almost two hours of exercises per day.

I'm also learning to mind the way I stand, walk, hold my head at all times. In short, posture, posture, posture as said above.
posted by francesca too at 3:48 PM on July 21, 2010

Seconding weightlifting. Particularly squats and deadlifts.

Getting started is intimidating, but college weightlifting class is a great place to get started: it's how I learned to lift, personally.

If you're mostly stuck at home, don't let that stop you. You can order weights online and get started in the comfort of your own home. Dumbbells are fairly cheap, and they're... well, heavy things you can grab, which is all you need to start.

Buy a couple and do some dumbbell deadlifts. (but keep your head up, unlike this guy)
posted by edguardo at 3:51 PM on July 21, 2010

Best answer: As other have pointed out, this is almost certainly a product of your habitual muscle movements more than the sorts of bone/joint things chiropractors work on. The good news is that you're young, and therefore it will probably only be a matter of weeks before you start seeing a difference.

Alexander Technique is all about posture, and a few sessions have been enough to help a lot of people.

My posture has been hugely improved by yoga, tai chi, feldenkrais, and just about every other movement practice I've tried. Pilates is also great for core strength and posture. The most important thing is to do Something.

In summary: you probably don't need a PT or chiro. A personal trainer or even regular yoga or other class will get you paying constant attention, building strength, and give you the kinesthetic knowledge you need to make permanent changes - and maintain them.
posted by ldthomps at 6:37 PM on July 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

When you walk and stand, try one simple thing: instead of letting your hands hang down with your thumbs pointing in to your thighs, turn your wrists so that your thumbs face forward. This will, to some slight extent, cause your shoulders and neck to move back a bit. The head-forward posture sounds like a propulsion gait, where you kind of fall forward as you walk. Try to place your feet separately in front of your body as you walk, instead of throwing your body forward and letting your feet catch up.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:57 PM on July 21, 2010 [2 favorites]

I used to have terrible posture. Things that have helped me are Rolfing, Alexander Technique. Feldenkrais, yoga, weightlifting, and martial arts. When I take too long off from working out, my posture tends to start regressing back into bad habits.

Basically, in order to improve your habitual posture you need to:

1) Learn to relax muscles that are too tight
2) Strengthen muscles that are too weak
3) Learn the kinesthetic awareness to tell when your posture is good without looking in a mirror
4) Devote consistent time to developing improved postural habits.
posted by tdismukes at 7:03 PM on July 21, 2010

I see a chiropractor who uses a combination of Active Release Therapy, teaching me stretching and strength exercises, and simply pointing out the difference between my posture and the way my posture should be.

I've had to do a lot of strengthening of my shoulders (scapula) and rotator cuff so I could actually bring my shoulders back and down and hold them there throughout the day. When I started with my chiropractor she told me that there was little point in telling me to "sit up straight", as I didn't have the strength to hold a correct posture for very long.

This article details one of the exercises I found most helpful, and shows the difference between head-forward slouching posture and standing-up-straight posture: Postural wall exercise

I was 27 when I started working on this and had over a decade of computer-using slouchiness ingrained in me and the difference in the last 2 years has been astounding (plus my repetitive stress injury is practically gone now that I use my body in a better way), so yes, you can absolutely achieve this!
posted by heatherann at 8:02 PM on July 21, 2010 [4 favorites]

Please never never never go to a chiropractor. The manipulations they do can be dangerous.
posted by mirileh at 12:24 AM on July 22, 2010

Please never never never go to a chiropractor. The manipulations they do can be dangerous.

Just to reply to this because I just mentioned going to a chiropractor for this:

You'll notice that I didn't mention chiropractic adjustments in the list of key things she uses. She's based out of a sports clinic and is licensed in Active Release Therapy and finds that is most useful for RSIs. Because she's based out of a sports clinic, she focuses on strength exercises and muscle health more than other chiropractors I went to. It took me a long time to find someone who could deal with my RSI (which happened to require better posture to be fixed), because it required understanding muscle tension, strength, massage, the effects of posture, the effects of stress, etc.

• My massage therapists had one piece of the puzzle, but the tension just kept coming back.
• The other sports doctors I tried told me I needed to stop using a computer for 6 months: a) I do websites for a living and can't live on air; b) what would prevent the RSI from coming back after those 6 months?
• My GP talked about muscle relaxants and surgery, so I ran away. Again, that would fix the symptom (maybe) but not the cause.

Chiropractic adjustments won't fix this for you. You need someone who can massage away the tension that has built up and changed your posture, and someone who can teach you what it feels like to stand straight and how to build the muscles that requires. I happened to find that in a chiropractor, and sometimes she does adjust me, but it is not the main therapy she uses and it would not be effective on its own.
posted by heatherann at 6:05 AM on July 22, 2010

I'm 25 and have the exact same issue that I've recently decided to correct by seeing a physical therapist. I've probably been 10 times now and am still going. It has helped SO MUCH. I am definitely much straighter than I was before. Hunching, rounded shoulders, rounded upper back, and a forward head were all my problems. I've been able to almost completely make them disappear with exercises, stretching, and the pressure/massage that losens my muscles that the PT provides.

Part of the issue with curving shoulders is that your chest muscles are probably stronger than your back muscles and are pulling your shoulders forward. There are stretches you can do for that. Memail me if you want me to try and describe them to you.

Also, try rolling a towel up and sticking it behind your shoulder blades horizontally while sitting in a chair for an extended period of time. This forces you to bring your shoulders back. Over time, your back muscles will get stronger and you won't feel them straining as much in this new position.

Good luck! It can be corrected :)
posted by whitetigereyes at 6:19 AM on July 22, 2010

For me doing ballroom dance was a fun way to dramatically improve my posture. You'd need to stick with it for at least 1 whole year before you start getting really deep into the specifics of head placement/tilt/filling out your chest/making yourself taller.

In some ways the ballroom forces you to develop over the top good posture, that looks a bit out of place in the real world, but the upside, is it becomes so ingrained, that even when you are relaxed your posture is still pretty good.

I love lifting weights, but I would actually recommend against that as a way tog et started with improving your posture. You bad posture makes it much more likely to injure yourself while lifting, and you would learn posture faster doing something specifically focused on posture such as yoga, ballroom, Alexander technique, modern dance, pilates, anything like that.

Lift weights if you want to improve your muscles or get healthy, but it's not worth it just as a posture improver.

Going back to ballroom, if you want to learn posture the most quickly, start by choosing one dance style (I'd suggest waltz, but if you prefer the styling of cha cha or rumba, those could also work well), take a month or two of beginner group classes, and then sign up for a private lesson or two and say that you want to work specifically on posture.
posted by vegetableagony at 9:34 AM on July 26, 2010