Understanding Forward Head Posture

Forward head posture is very common due to the amount of time we spend sitting these days. Just because something is common, it does not mean that it is normal! I like to call this forward head position “TEXT NECK”! You can understand that our bodies wind up in the position we place them the most. When we spend the majority of the day looking down its not long before our joints, posture and spine creep into this faulty position.

Our head is a heavy object. In fact it weighs about 12 pounds when this weight is balanced over the top of our spine (middle of our ear is running through the middle of our shoulder from the side). If we translate our head forward and loose this normal postural position for every inch our head goes forward on the midline of our shoulder it becomes 10 pounds heavier. So for a 12 pound head 2 inches forward your head would now weight 32 pounds to your body!!

It is now easy to understand how this forward head places extra force on joints and muscles of the neck. It also however will stress the rest of the spine including the low back and sometimes can be a reason for chronic low back pain.

Working with many people over the years has lead me to realise how this problem is at the root cause of the majority of neck pain. The following conditions can be associated with forward head posture.