STRUCTURE MATTERS: Is Your Head On Straight?
Of all pain syndromes people seek help with, the most prevalent are headaches, neck and shoulder pain and low back pain, along with their litanies of associated symptoms.
This article will focus mainly on one commonly overlooked structural cause for many chronic problems:
FORWARD HEAD POSTURE
- or FHP.
i say overlooked, because it’s invisible to the average eye. But for structural therapists who are looking for solutions, misalignment is flamingly obvious.
In any postural distortion, forces move through the body unevenly. A crooked tower is not biomechanically strong.
STRUCTURE MATTERS.
Alignment counts. Postural distortions interrupt circulation, nerve relay, and life force.
STRUCTURE<<< >>>FUNCTION
Human physiology functions best when vertically aligned with a clear midline down the center.
Physical landmarks are much easier to see than a nerve injury, so it makes sense to start our assessment with what we can feel and observe.
Misalignments block circulation (blood, lymph, and cerebrospinal fluid) diminishing life force. Joints articulate poorly because they don’t line up, and nerves are impinged.
Even after an injury heals, it’s common to relapse or reinjure the same side because there’s a pathway etched in our nervous system (a “physiopathological reflex arc”); our structure leans, pulls, or twists to that side. We generally just habituate to our body’s compensation patterns and don’t notice until we feel pain or can’t move.
Blocked energy manifests as tension, pressure, agitation, or pain. If not resolved, chronic pathology ensues. Compression causes depression too - physical and emotional. Movement becomes restricted; possibility shrinks.
Simply put, body parts don’t work well when they are in the wrong place.
The survival brain knows this, and rushes to put the fire out.
Ultimately, survival is threatened when the hoses are crimped…
Being “off center” is very disorienting to the deep brain structures involving balance, breath, emotion and cognition.
Cells and organs function best when they are not compressed. Restoring alignment restores circulation, movement and metabolism. Mitochondria switch back on to supply the energy we need for healing and life.
Reorganizing posture and alignment gets most people out of pain quickly, and this is not just a physical thing.
Returning to center enables better balance and symmetry between parts; and hence an embodied sense of ease. Balance brings calm. Our primitive survival mechanisms, emotional intelligence, and reason (the three brains) become functionally integrated once again.
UNCOVERING ROOT CAUSES OF PAIN
As soon as i got past crawling and learned to stand, my mother was teaching me posture, and she made me practice very hard. She said people’s problems were directly related to not standing up straight.
As a retired prima ballerina, she stood up straight. People came to her and she would help them stand up straight too - with “corrective exercise”, as she called it. She had few real students because most people don’t have the interest, patience, or faith to keep up. Other priorities win.
It takes perseverence to retrain our nervous system to stand us up straight again - and to not just strike a pose and hold our breath.
My mother pointed out posture to me on the street and tell me what she saw…
…and then low and behold decades later, as i studied structure and pain, we professionals also indulged in people watching to learn. In our tesring processes, we were assigned challenging client cases to assess, and had to demonstrate what a comprehensive treatment would look like and what our treatment plan might be.
NB: Ever wonder how your body parts connect and interact with eachother? Just spend 3-6 months correcting your posture and clearing the compensation patterns from past injuries, and you will have that answer in living, breathing technicolor beyond any doubt…
HOW FORWARD HEAD POSTURE LEADS TO PAIN
Imagine your head as a 15 pound bowling ball full of custard sitting atop the spinal cord on seven skinny little bones called cervical vertebrae - the neck. Then lean that big heavy ball to one side and leave it there.
Try it. Stand up straight then drop your head forward slowly toward your chest; feel what happens to your posture, breathing, and spine/back.
Please note: if balance is an issue, have the wall behind your back for this exercise, or remain seated and sit tall with both feet firm and even on the floor.
Forward Head Posture (FHP) is epidemic today, and it starts young. Between slouching over cell phones and the weight of heavy backpacks, children and teenagers develop compressed, rounded posture and the inability to stand up straight. Emotional issues can contribute to faulty posture as well - at any age.
Look at the two children in the back center: notice by their upper arm position how their shoulders roll inward - especially the child with the red pack whose palms face backwards. This indicates chest and shoulder compression and a likely forward head. These patterns start young, go unnoticed, and don’t improve on their own. This is when treatment should begin; prevention is wiser, more efficient, and more cost-effective than cure.
The more digitized and less embodied our global culture becomes, the more bent and twisted our bodies get. Sadly that means more pain and illness for real people too. And the less time we have to devote to healing and self-care.
We overlook the strain that misalignments put on the body, heart, and brain.
Postural distortions become pathological over time.
Forward Head Posture is a common spinal misalignment that develops from lack of body awareness and self-care, lifestyle habits, cultural ignorance, and medical misinformation. FHP may come from repeatedly looking down at devices, prolonged sitting at a desk or in a car, or carrying heavy bags or babies. Then there are those awkward teen years where our rapidly changing bodies may sprout up taller or develop earlier than our peers, so we self-consciously slouch to hide or fit in. And of course, falls and auto accidents throughout life can leave lasting strain patterns in the nervous system and the brain.
Let’s look at a few possible ramifications of this one single condition, FHP; and in doing so, may we aspire to new levels of body awareness and better self-care.
May we never underestimate the subtle intricacy of our divine design.
FHP can silently contribute to one or more of these complaints:
1) headaches
2) TMJ dysfunction (jaw pain)
3) malocclusion (teeth don’t meet, altering bite and speech)
4) neck and shoulder tension;
5) back pain;
6) repetitive strain injuries (RSI) of the elbow or wrist;
7) heart constriction and arythmias
8) breathing problems;
9) tinnitis (ringing in the ears)
10) digestive issues;
11) anxiety & depression
12) asthma
13) respiratory infections
14) poor sleep
15) irritability
16) eye strain and vision problems
17) foggy thinking
18) anger and irritability
19) and many more…
What would it mean to you to be free of these grueling symptoms??
A whiplash injury shortens the deep anterior ligaments of the neck and throat, pulling the head forward, then the shoulders and torso - not to mention how it compromises the brain and nervous system! Whiplash absolutely is a traumatic brain injury!
As our posture rolls forward of the vertical postural plane, organ systems become compressed - like the heart, lungs, stomach and intestines. The physical strain of all these adaptations compounds with our digitally-dependent sedentary lifestyle to exacerbate and even intensify prior weaknesses; then comes confusion, frustration, and despair that we might ever heal.
There are far more costs than we realize to always looking down at our screens.
Remember that 15 pound bowling ball?
Hanging forward, the head tugs on and strains the spinal cord and the brain. Every one inch forward the head falls (of the vertical postural plane) places 10 extra pounds of pressure on the cervical spine (neck).
Then like an old rubber band, the back of the body becomes rigidly overstretched; the front chronically shortened.
This leads to muscular soreness, generalized fatigue, and plumbing problems - blocked circulation between the body and the brain.
What might seem to some like a small thing extracts a heavy price.
Postural distortions are not a small thing, especially as time goes by.
However our symptoms manifest, there is almost always a structural cause. Alignment matters greatly in health.
Misalignments cause restriction, tension, pain, and ultimately, degenerative decay. Injuries cause and accentuate misalignments.
Misalignments happen slowly over time, depending on how we use our bodies day to day. Imagine an elder stooped over with a cane: this posture has been progressing for many years.
Sadly, our seated digital lifestyles collapse both posture and energy levels; while the internet frequencies of the grid negatively affect metabolism, organ function, and overall health. So there’s always more to the story - but staying centered makes all the difference in the world. Finding midline is key.
Restoring posture and alignment resolves numerous complaints. Our bodies are living systems that know how to self-renew.
See examples before (Left FHP) and after (Right vertically aligned
WHAT TO DO?
START SIMPLE
Just check in with your body every day and see how things feel. Do what you can to open any restrictions; use what you know. Remember to breathe and hydrate - feed the life inside you and it will serve you well.
PRACTICE
Practice 1-3X per day Stand with parallel feet and legs. Lift up through heart area and crown of head. Keep chin level, not lifted. Breathe in and out slowly and deeply through nose. Keep body weight balanced between both feet, both legs, both sides.
GET HELP
We need an outer eye to help us see ourselves. Structural issues require fluency in anatomy, physiology, emotional trauma, and injury rehabilitation. Healing is organic, not mechanical, and encompasses all layers and levels of who we are.
i believe therapeutic relationships should happen live and in-person as much as possible; and i don’t believe in tele-health as a standard of care. On the surface, it may seem convenient, but the push to tele-health since 2020 was a dehumanizing ploy intended to usher us into a touchless world, with our own innocent consent. i did not give that consent, and i won’t. We need eachother’s living presence to find personal, social and cultural wholeness again.
Get bodywork, acupuncture, chiropractic, sound healing, yoga therapy - wake up your senses - learn to breathe through your nose. Break the isolation and shame we’ve all had imposed upon us by the forces that shouldn’t be.
We learn by doing - by reconnecting with our bodies, encouraging symmetry and alignment, and resolving injuries and emotions that keep us locked in a painful past. True health is a blessing revealed with dedicated self-care.
Stay tuned…we have barely scratched the surface.
The more you know, the more consciousness expands, and the more becomes possible for you - for us - and for the future we will birth.
STRUCTURE MATTERS: Is Your Head On Straight?
Very good, and important "pinch point" to address!