Forward head posture
[citation needed] The posture can occur in dentists,[2] surgeons,[3] and hairdressers,[4] or people who spend time on electronic devices.
In this position the load on each vertebra of the cervical spine is spread evenly between the two facet (apophyseal) joints at the back and the intervertebral disc and vertebral body at the front.
[citation needed] This indicates that the upper back vertebrae have frozen in their habitual flexed positions, with the surrounding collagen of the ligaments, joint capsules and fascia shortening to reinforce this hypomobility.
[14] In older patients with already diminished cervical foramina spaces and/or osteophytes, nerve root irritation and impingement can trigger referred pain down the arm(s).
[15] The human spine is well suited to erect upright posture, with the increased heart rate from movement shunting a good blood supply to the muscles.
This is clearly not the case for vast numbers of sedentary humans spending many hours daily bent over laptops, tablets, smartphones and similar.
[16] As a consequence there is growing medical concern specifically with children as their head size is larger in relation to their body and thus pose an increased risk group for being affected by musculoskeletal and neurological issues in the neck caused by thoracic hunching.
[17][18] Hunching has always caused problems, for instance in occupational groups like dentists,[2] surgeons,[3] hairdressers,[4] nurses,[19] chefs,[20] teachers,[21] computer workers and students.
[23] A large Finnish cross-sectional study on school-age adolescents published in 2012 concluded that more than two hours a day spent on computers was associated with a moderate/severe increase in musculoskeletal pain.
[27] However the published epidemiological papers draw on raw data from surveys done at least 10 years ago, and there are indications that the numbers have been rising dramatically since then – as rapidly as the adoption of laptops, tablets and smartphones.
physiotherapy in British-derived cultures) which utilises a wide range of techniques and modalities; spinal manipulation from osteopaths, manipulating physiotherapists and spinal adjustments from chiropractors;[33][34] massage; muscle strengthening programmes including gyms and Pilates; postural approaches such as the Alexander Technique; stretching approaches such as yoga; ergonomic approaches including setting up desktop computers correctly and frequent breaks; and surgery for severe structural problems such as osteophytic impingement on the cervical nerve roots and cervical disc herniation.
