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The other head problem

Though not as common as Forward Head, let's talk about another postural deviation I'll call Chin Up Head.

Here's a good example. By our cultural standards, she's gorgeous: that neck goes on for days! But in addition to her head being forward, her chin is lifted. End result: stunningly beautiful uh....compression of the neck vertebrae.


The technical term is cervical extension and it usually isn't as extreme as the model above.

Here are more subtle examples:
It's a little hard to see but all these people have their heads lifted a few degrees off neutral. Held habitually for years, it can add up to neck problems or even chronic headaches. It can even affect your eyes.

Chin Up Head is very frequently associated with Forward Head because of issues in the upper back and neck muscles. But there are two other important reasons people acquire this postural problem: Limitation in thoracic extension and overstretched tissue in the front of the neck.

Huh?

Limitation in thoracic extension means you've lost the ability to back bend in your upper back. It's both a flexibility and a strength issue and can be corrected over time with back extension exercises.

Ignoring this can lead to "dowager's hump" (technical term is kyphosis).


And stretched out tissue in the front of the neck? You know this well. It's a double chin! Lifting our head helps hide this. Remember the model above? We all want to look like that, yes? Unfortunately, lifting the chin, while adding the illusion of length, is just making the problem worse by stretching the tissue out more!

So, maybe for your selfies, you can lift your chin but the long term solution is the reverse: tuck your chin. Because of the elongation of the cervical spine, this can really help with neck pain.

And if you really want to get rid of that double chin, do exercises that will shorten and tighten the tissue on the front of the neck.

More important than exercises though, is to learn to hold your head in a good neutral position.
Perhaps not quite as glamorous in the short term, in the long run, it is quite literally, less of a pain in the neck!

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