Neck pain can be extremely debilitating, besides being very painful. Not only does it reduce productive hours of work, but also affects one ability to drive a car and participate in recreational activities.
There are numerous causes of neck pain, from a herniated intervertebral disc to a fractured vertebra. Another cause of neck pain which is on the rise in our modern technical world is that of the texting posture. You will recognise it by the forward pointing chin, stooped shoulders and rounded back. This puts the head into a forward head posture. This is also known as the chicken or tortoise neck. This is all from looking at devices such as laptops, tablets and cell phones.
It is very easy to assess if you have the forward head posture. If your ear is more forward than your shoulders, then you are exhibiting the forward head posture. The neck is deviating away from the neck’s original position of being vertical, as it was intended. This forward leaning of the head causes strain on the neck muscles, in turn causing neck pain. The physical presentation of this is the lump that develops on the back of the neck. It consists of built up bone and fatty tissue.
Remember that the neck is much like a balance beam. The muscle affected the most by forward neck posture is the sternocleidomastoid muscle, which lifts the head up. It connects the skull to the clavicle and sternum.
The most obvious symptom of forward neck posture is back and neck pain but your appearance will look shorter, heavier and sloppy too.
Other symptoms include:
- Tiredness
- Neck, shoulders and back pain
- Joints, muscles, ligaments, blood vessels & nerves can become permanently damaged
- Headaches and migraines
- Sleeplessness
- Join pain
- Reduced fitness
- Noisy mouth breathing, snoring & sleep apnoea
- Premature degeneration of your vertebra
- Pinched nerves
- Reduced movement in joints
- Poor body image
- Reduced oxygen and nutrition supply to the brain.
- Breathing restrictions
- Reduced visual and auditory perception
- ENT issues
- Temporomandibular joint pain
- Dizziness, vertigo and balance issues
The benefits of treating and maintaining the sternocleidomastoid muscle include looking taller, more confident and youthful. Headaches and migraines are reduced too. Increased lung capacity improved focus, alertness and memory. Sleep and intimacy are also improved. It obviously eliminates, shoulder, back and neck pain too.