There are many types of postures we see people have everyday. But do you know what they're called? Today I am sharing with you one of the most common postural syndromes nowadays –– Upper Cross Syndrome.
Upper cross syndrome is composed of forward head posture, increased thoracic curve, and pronated shoulders. One of the most common causes of this syndrome is working in front of computers and electronic devices for a long period of time. When we round our shoulders and slouch to use computers for an accumulated period of time without stretching and exercising to reverse that pattern, our bodies will adapt and start to lean to that posture, and thus upper cross syndrome is created.
Upper cross syndrome inhibits our shoulder mobility, spinal rotation, and extension. For the ones who have this syndrome, their upper abdominals, neck extensors, and pectoralis are shortened and tightened while their neck flexors, lower trapezius, rhomboids are lengthened and weakened.
When someone has a forward head posture, each centimeter of forward head carriage puts 2x of the weight of his/her head to the neck. That means if someone’s head weight 8 lb and the head carriage is 5cm more forward than normal, he/she is putting 40 lb of pressure on his/her neck. The average forward head carriage is 6 cm, that is a huge amount of load putting on a human being just from the head!
Our body always compensate...
Since our movements are limited, our bodies will go to this compensation mechanism where they will overwork other muscles in order to perform a specific movement. For instance, John, a software programmer who has upper cross syndrome from spending 40 hours a week in front of his computer, is doing an overhead press at the gym today. He needs to raise his arms high enough so that they are right next to his ears. However, because of his increased thoracic curve, he cannot raise his arms as high as he wants! So John now needs to put extra pressure in his shoulder joint and rotator cuff in order to perform an overhead press. When this happens repeatedly for a period of time, his shoulders will start to wear out, get inflamed, and eventually, get torn. If he ignores it and continues to do the same movement, other body parts will start to wear out and get hurt.
Everything in our body is connected. When someone has upper cross syndrome for quite a while, he/she will eventually develop lower cross syndrome in the future if they don't address the issue due to compensation mechanism. If we ignore the root causes, we can never be free from pain! Our bodies will continue to suffer from chronic and joint pain if we continue to take no notice of the root causes.
How can I tell if I have upper cross syndrome?
The only way is to measure. In TAO Movement, we identify different postural syndromes by simply doing a few measurements on clients using the CHEK tools. Comparing the numbers objectively, we will be able to tell if you have a normal thoracic curvature and head carriage.
If you have or are suffering from neck or shoulder pain, this might be why! To find out if this syndrome is the real reason you’re hurting, you can visit TAO Movement and receive your postural assessments!
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