Forward Head Posture

For every inch your head moves forwards, it gains 10 pounds in weight, or at least that’s what the muscles in your upper back and neck feel, because they have to work that much harder to keep the head (chin) from dropping onto your chest. This also puts pressure on your nerves. This nerve compression may cause headaches at the base of the skull. This nerve pressure can also mimic sinus (frontal) headaches.

It’s not uncommon to observe 2 and even 3 inches of anterior head placement in new patients. Would you be surprised that your neck and shoulders hurt if you had a 20-pound watermelon hanging around your neck? That’s what forward head posture (FHP) can do to you. Left uncorrected, FHP will continue to get worse. Chiropractic can be very corrective. Our specialty is in reversing the joint fixations (what we refer to as “subluxations”), restoring normal nerve signals, and in re-invigorating the muscles that normally retract the head.

A head held in proper position will have the ear directly over the shoulder. Take a moment and check your loved ones. To check yourself, stand with your back to a wall, have your heels touching the wall, now bring your head straight back (don’t tip your chin upwards) until your head touches the wall. That is proper posture.