Forward Head Posture

[Rev]

"The forward head posture should be addressed using activation work for the deep neck flexors, coupled with stretching of the suboccipitals and sternocleidomastoid (SCM) (and the levator scapulae, as noted earlier)." ~ Cressey and Robertson

This is suggested by Cressey and Robertson in the ever so popular Neanderthal article 3. I have a forward head posture issue, assumingly from poor posture at the computer and in general. They list what needs to be targeted but I don't see any actual exercises or stretches to hit the targeted areas along with practicing good posture. Any help would be really appreciated, thank you for reading.

[DeadOnArrival]

Do you have rounded shoulders too? Stretching pecs, lats anterior delts can help.

What about the condition of your thoracis spine? You might want to do some scapular retraction work. Standing cable rows and prone cobras are good.

Stay away from crunches for a while.

You need to retrain yourself to stand properly. Get yourself a watch that beeps at you every 15minutes. This tells you to lift your chest and tuck your chin in.

[Jake]

Check out the neck exercise in the "Posture Circuit" described in part 4 of the article.

[Rev]

Originally posted by Jake:
Check out the neck exercise in the "Posture Circuit" described in part 4 of the article.

I had never caught these before, I always skipped over part 4 accidently.

Chin Tucks
- activation of deep neck flexors.

SCM/Upper Trapezius Stretch

Suboccipital/Levator Scapulae Stretch

You can see pictures of these movements on this page. http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=472224

[Phitz]

Here's an earlier Mike Robertson article that is a an interesting read as well.

Correcting Kyphosis

[bushDocda]

I just finally read the entire Neanderthal series last night after brushing over it when they were first being posted.

Information like that (and the kind we all get from here and the good sites out there) is priceless. I feel a little bad for others i see at the gym that aren't exposed to the quality info i/we have access to.

I will be doing my best to evaluate myself and go through the steps in parts 4 and 5 in the near future. My posture and all interrelated functions can only improve.

[DKing]

Bushdocda - Didn't you find the first guy in the case study to be really good looking and someone who just seemed like a really cool guy .


I agree, having access to stuff like this is awesome. If you can take some pictures of yourself in the same manner a lot of guys on here can help you out.

Danny