Anterior Head Carriage

"For every inch your head moves forwards, it gains 10 pounds in weight, as far as the muscles in your upper back and neck are concerned, because they have to work that much harder to keep the head (chin) from dropping onto your chest. This also forces the suboccipital muscles (they raise the chin) to remain in constant contraction, putting pressure on the 3 Suboccipital nerves. This nerve compression may cause headaches at the base of the skull. Pressure on the suboccipital nerves can also mimic sinus (frontal) headaches." Kapandji, Physiology of the Joints, Volume 3. Anterior head carriage usually goes hand in hand with rounded shoulders and an overall 'hunched appearance.' In our forward,computer and technology driven society, this is extremely important to be aware of and keep in mind. Posture is definitely something we all need to pay more attention to. There are exercises and stretches specific to helping improve posture, along with numerous ergonomic settings that can help. Being aware and paying attention to your posture throughout the day is the most important factor though. It is one of those things that is hardly noticed and finally after who knows how long, we'll find ourselves completely hunched over typing, reading, etc.

Stretching the front, tight muscles and working to strengthen and tighten the stretched back muscles is what we want to accomplish. Stretching the chest will help loosen up those tight muscles that are pulling the shoulders forward. A few ideas are to use a doorway or lay on your back over a stability ball letting your arms fall out to the sides. Another is to reach and lock both arms behind your back, raising arms as far as you can behind you and holding 30 seconds. Another is to sit with your back against a wall (wall sit exercise essentially) and raise your arms like a goal-post, against the wall. Slowly raise your arms as high as possible, trying to straighten them all the way to 180 if possible. Next, to strengthen those back muscles, rows, lat pull downs, supermans, cat-camels, bird-dogs, and reverse flys. Focusing on your core will also improve overall posture by helping to stabilize the body. Sitting also tightens the hip flexors so you really want to focus on stretching those out as much as possible. Lunge position, leaning forward is a good one, as is the butterfly to incorporate the inner thigh and groin. When the hip flexors become too tight, the glutes can de-activate so performing glute specific exercises is also important. These include glute bridges and donkey kicks.

Next, you really want to pay attention to your posture throughout the day. If you work at a desk, that means getting up frequently and walking around, stretching, just getting the blood flowing and muscles warmed back up. Proper ergonomics are also very important and can make a huge difference. You want your computer screen above eye level so that when you are looking straight ahead, your eyes line up with the middle to top 1/3 of your screen and the monitor should be an arms lenght away from your body. Your chair should have lumbar support and be at the height that your hips and knees are bent to 90 degrees (legs parallel to the floor), with your feet resting flat on the floor. Your keyboard should be at the level where your arms rest comfortably, wrists level with or slightly below elbows, wrists straight, not bent at all and elbows in line with body, not in front of behind body. You also want to pay attention to your shoulders and how relaxed they are, they should be fully relaxed, not hunched at all. This is something that will continue to happen over and over until you correct it, so when you are not aware of it, you will keep finding yourself with shoulders hunched, creating neck and back tension.