aka Neanderthal Man There was a good article series on T-Nation awhile back called Neanderthal No More (or search for that keyword string here as well). Give it a look-see.
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Isn't forward head posture caused by tight pecs and trapz? I think I may have a little forward head posture as well because its harder to keep my head up in neutral. When I relax my head, it wants to go down into forward head posture, but I don't let it. I know I have real tight upper trapz that I have been trying to massage like crazy lately with my hands that has not gone away yet. I am trying to get my head to turn to the left without anything holding it back like it can to the right. I basicially need to get loose in the upper trapz. I am not sure if my pecs are tight or not though. I am pretty sure its just the upper trapz doing this to me.
Should I also stop doing pull ups right now and just focus on rows? bent over rows, seated rows, face pulls, straight arm lat pulldowns, depressions on lat pulldown machine, etc.? like kevin said. (anything that is retraction or depression only basicially)
all my upper body is preety damn flexible and loose.
i do alot of rowing, and pull ups
I do scap wall slides, scap push ups, band pull aparts in my warmups atleast once a week. DO you think maybe because the pullups and rowing is so heavy and the other stuff is just in warmups that could make a differnce...
I found that when I walk around a lot of keep my eyes on the ground, when I try and keep my eyes up on the horizon, etc, my head posture is much better.
What he said..when I was younger I didn't wear my glasses, so I stared at the ground cause it was the only thing close enough to see!!
Now I try to focus on the horizon. Seems to help.
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Paul, most often I have found that forward head starts from dysfunction at the top. The joint between your head and cervical spine gets "stuck" in extension (ie you looking up) Can happen from sitting in slumped posture and other things. Try doing some cervical nodding exercises (PM me if you need a link) and that should help.
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Here is a description of the cervical nodding exercise that I wrote in the Injury Subforum a while ago. I can't find a good picture of the exercise, I guess I need to take some!
Quote:
Originally Posted by UConnJulie
I have found personally with my own neck that I need adjustments less frequently when my muscles are strong enough to "hold everything in place".
There are some good isolation or cervical stabilization exercises that should help ...
1. Cervical Nod: lie on your back on a flat surface with a small washcloth rolled up under the arch of your neck. Place one hand across your neck, feeling your sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscles (large cord-like muscles running from the base of your skull behind your ear to the center of where your collarbones meet). Slowly drop your chin toward your chest (without lifting your head), ie "nodding", you should NOT feel the SCM muscles contract. This is a LOW EFFORT exercise, you should NOT feel any straining. Only go as far as your body will let you ... do not force anything. As you do this exercise over time, your range will increase. Hold for 10 seconds and perform 8-10 reps, 2-3 times per day. All the movement will feel like it is coming from your upper cervical region (you might feel some stretching along the base of your skull).
There is a progression from this, but honestly if you can master this (so that you can fully nod without activating the SCMs) then doing the supine work on the ball in NROL will continue to get easier. When you are doing those, use your arms/hands for support as needed ... and maintain that "nodded" position while you do it. You will find over time that you need less and less hand support. Avoid letting your chin "poke" out (with all exercises) and you will work those deep stabilizers.
Please let me know if the instructions above are not clear ... I've been looking for a picture to no avail ...
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Here is a description of the cervical nodding exercise that I wrote in the Injury Subforum a while ago. I can't find a good picture of the exercise, I guess I need to take some!
I would love to see some pics of this exercise Julie.......
Scroll to the bottom and there are pictures of a lady doing cervical nod/chin tuck with a towel under her head holding her head in neutral position. I went to google and I typed in "cervical nod" in the images section and I was able to find it right away. I hope this is the right one.
Oh and how are the other few exercises on this page?
Head forward posture can be caused by a number of causes.
Anterior (lower cross syndrome) or posterior (flat back) pelvic tilt can cause a head forward posture but a head posture can also cause these postural dysfunction so it's like the chicken before the egg.
Breathing dysfunction can also be a cause - reverse breathing pattern will over stress the secondary respiratory musculature including the SCM that can pull the head forward. Also this breathing dysfunction also causes depression of the rib cage further adding to the problem.
TMJ dysfunction can also be another cause - I won't get to deep into this but find it to be a more common cause then the points mentioned above.
Ankle and foot dysfunction can be another cause and I find often go hand in hand with TMJ dysfunction.
So the first place to start would be to assess your TMJ and foot & ankle complex.
Though this article I wrote is directed towards inspiring females to work on the problem, the answer is all the same and just gives some more talking about it.
Scroll to the bottom and there are pictures of a lady doing cervical nod/chin tuck with a towel under her head holding her head in neutral position. I went to google and I typed in "cervical nod" in the images section and I was able to find it right away. I hope this is the right one.
Oh and how are the other few exercises on this page?
Doesn't look like the towel is under the arch of the neck in that photo......
Doesn't look like the towel is under the arch of the neck in that photo......
Correct. The exercise is described appropriately, but they show IMO a more advanced version. And the towel is too big. I generally have people use either a beefy washcloth or a wimpy hand towel.
Mon, the other exercises are fine ... they are pilates based, and there is nothing wrong with them. They aren't specifically for forward head posture though.
Nice article Leigh ... I hadn't seen that before!
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Doesn't look like the towel is under the arch of the neck in that photo......
Oh, so its not the right picture then. That's all I could fine. Maybe someone can edit out the picture on photoshop or a photo editing program and put the towel where it belongs
Correct. The exercise is described appropriately, but they show IMO a more advanced version. And the towel is too big. I generally have people use either a beefy washcloth or a wimpy hand towel.
Mon, the other exercises are fine ... they are pilates based, and there is nothing wrong with them. They aren't specifically for forward head posture though.
Nice article Leigh ... I hadn't seen that before!
I know the other ones are not specifically for forward head posture, but how about the one with the shoulder blades having to stay on the ground while moving the arms up and down? Is that to help keep the shoulders down and depressed and help with tight upper trapz, which can cause forward head posture (my situation is tight upper trapz). I notice that when someone massages my upper trapz, I feel a lot looser and my head and shoulders are more relaxed. What I have to do is work on the stabilizers to keep it loose and relaxed all the time instead of the upper trapz doing most of the work.
Forward Head Posture
There was a good article series on T-Nation awhile back called Neanderthal No More (or search for that keyword string here as well). Give it a look-see.
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