{"id":1244,"date":"2012-02-09T18:52:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-10T01:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.brianschiff.com\/?p=1244"},"modified":"2012-02-10T07:47:11","modified_gmt":"2012-02-10T14:47:11","slug":"poor-posture-neck-dysfunction-and-classifying-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.brianschiff.com\/?p=1244","title":{"rendered":"Poor Posture, Neck Retraction and Classifying Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It is no secret that all the technology in our world has made poor posture even more prevalent than before.  I always say the brain picks the path of least resistance for the body and that tendency combined with gravity leads to a natural forward head posture.  Hours spent on the computer, texting and sitting often promote a picture like this:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1245 alignleft\" title=\"poor-neck\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.brianschiff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/poor-neck.gif\" alt=\"poor-neck\" width=\"148\" height=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This positioning leads to lower cervical flexion and upper cervical extension thereby creating muscle imbalances. \u00a0Keep in mind the rest of the spine takes its cues from the head and neck. \u00a0A forward head encourages thoracic kyphosis, shoulder internal rotation and lumbar flexion. \u00a0The back muscles give way to hanging on the static structures and the brain grows accustomed to this relaxed posture. \u00a0The result = increased strain, muscle tension and mechanical deformation. \u00a0In addition, neuromuscular activation of the proper postural muscles is compromised or shut down completely.<\/p>\n<p>This sequence of events often gives way to postural pain, tightness, tension headaches and eventually even more intense pain and symptoms related to disc pathology. \u00a0Essentially, the wrong structures spend too much time under tension, while our muscles go on a prolonged siesta throughout the day. \u00a0Good posture takes hard work and looks like this:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1247 alignleft\" title=\"normal-neck\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.brianschiff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/normal-neck.gif\" alt=\"normal-neck\" width=\"174\" height=\"202\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So, some simple strategies to improve posture include an awareness of proper alignment (ears in line with the shoulders), a conscious effort to sit and stand with better posture and consistent postural strengthening. \u00a0One of my favorite exercises to do is a simple prone neck retraction (see video below)<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HHc2vOcmE1k\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>For a complete description of the exercise, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fit-pro.com\/ME2\/dirmod.asp?sid=&amp;nm=&amp;type=Publishing&amp;mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&amp;mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&amp;tier=4&amp;id=958AC53521224BBAA5A18A51304D508D\" target=\"_blank\">click here to read my full column in PFP Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, I want to leave you with some information from another clinician, Joe Brence, DPT on pain classification. He addresses the <strong>biomedical versus biopsychosocial<\/strong> approach to treating pain on The Manual Therapist&#8217;s blog. \u00a0I tend to believe we must use components of both systems as well as our intuition and clinical experience, but it is an informative post. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.themanualtherapist.com\/2012\/02\/guest-post-all-about-pain-by-dr-joe.html\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> to read his guest blog post on this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is no secret that all the technology in our world has made poor posture even more prevalent than before. I always say the brain picks the path of least resistance for the body and that tendency combined with gravity leads to a natural forward head posture. Hours spent on the computer, texting and sitting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[249,245,248,247,246],"class_list":["post-1244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness","tag-cervical-spine","tag-neck-exercise","tag-neck-pain","tag-neck-retraction","tag-postural-exercises"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.10 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Poor Posture, Neck Retraction and Classifying Pain - Brian Schiff&#039;s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.brianschiff.com\/?p=1244\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Poor Posture, Neck Retraction and Classifying Pain - Brian Schiff&#039;s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is no secret that all the technology in our world has made poor posture even more prevalent than before. 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