Do you work at a computer, text or play computer games, and suffer from headaches, backaches or shoulder pain? You may be suffering from Forward Head Posture (FHP). Other common causes of FHP are looking down while typing on a keyboard, sitting or standing with your shoulders rounded and back hunched, carrying a heavy purse or back pack over one shoulder, and driving with your head more than 3 inches away from the headrest of the seat.

Do you have forward head posture?

Stand with your back flat against a wall. Place your heels shoulder width apart and have your buttocks and your shoulder blades (not the tops of your shoulders) touching the wall. If your head is not touching the wall in this stance, you have forward head posture.

If your posture is correct, your head should look like a golf ball sitting on a tee. Your ears should be centered directly over your shoulders. Your shoulders should be directly over your hips and your hips should be over your knees, and you should be able to draw a straight line through your head, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles. In Forward Head Posture, the position of your head has moved forward from the center of the shoulders.

As your head moves forward, your center of gravity shifts and creates a domino effect of problems. To compensate for the shift in your center of gravity, your upper body will drift backward. To compensate for your upper body shift, your hips tilt forward. All this shifting causes strains, stress and ultimately pain for numerous parts of your body. Forward Head Posture causes serious health problems when left untreated.

A human head weighs between 8 and 10 pounds. With correct posture, your head doesn’t feel like it weighs much at all because it is perfectly balanced and positioned. When your head moves forward of its balanced position, the relative weight of your head increases dramatically. For every 1 inch your head moves forward, the relative weight of the head over the body doubles due to the effects of gravity, which places a great deal of stress on your head, neck, shoulders and back, causing discomfort and pain. Forward Head Posture is often the root cause of:

�Headaches and Migraines
�TMJ (jaw) pain and dysfunction
�Neck Pain
�Myofascial Pain
�Shoulder, Upper b Pain
�Upper Back Pain
�Middle Back Pain
�Lower Back Pain
�Sore Chest Muscles
�Asthma
�Allergies
�Insomnia
�Chronic aches and pain
�Fibromyalgia
�Disc degeneration
�Numbness or tingling in the arms and/or hands

Forward Head Posture can also reduce lung capacity and blood flow and impact your gastrointestinal system. Persistent Forward Head Posture can lead to spinal degeneration and a condition called Hypnosis or Widow’s Hump.

Chiropractors have extensive training in diagnosing and analyzing poor posture, and are experts in treating pain and other problems caused by poor posture. Your nervous system, cells, tissues, and organs are designed to resist disease and ill health. When loss of motion or misalignments occur between any of the 24 moving bones of your spinal column, it can disrupt the transmission of nerve impulses and lead to pain or organ dysfunction. Chiropractors correct problems that lead to poor posture by analyzing spinal curvatures, movement and alignment issues.

When assessing a patient’s posture, a chiropractor considers:
�Outward or inward turning of one or both feet
�Alignment of the knees
�Unlevel hips or pelvis
�Height differences across the shoulders
�Tilting of the head and neck
�Forward tilting pelvis
�Forward head position
�Increase in the spinal curvatures
�Changes to gait (walking)

Remember when your parents or teacher told you �sit up straight.� Following that sage advice will help prevent bad posture and Forward Head Posture from developing.

It’s extremely important to treat Forward Head Posture. The doctors at Devine Chiropractic and Rehab Center have been treating poor posture, including Forward Head Posture, for nearly 25 years. Please schedule an appointment by calling 206 623-2225. More information about Dr. Devine, Devine Chiropractic and Rehab Center and posture can be found at www.seattlechiropractor.com. We are conveniently located in downtown Seattle and offer day, evening and Saturday appointments.