Forward Head Posture

[PloskoPlus]

Thanksit, I'll defiantly look into it. Foam rolling is awesome and is very useful when it comes to loosening up tight muscles. Would you recommend the long or short one?

I've bought both, thinking I'd use the short one on trips, but when I did go, it stayed in my  suitcase. So I've only used the long version. Some say the short version allows to really get at the back muscles. I'm sceptical. I'd get the long version, its also much bigger in diameter.

[nrelax11]

K, thanks again Theres a store near me that carries them, so I'll go check it out today. Oh, one last thing.  How much did you pay for yours. Im an amazon prime member, so I get almost $30 off the small and large version.

[dantheman]

I definitely agree of getting a foam roller. I would also get an exercise/yoga mat and flexible rubber band tubing for varying tension rows.

I think we could all benefit from cable rows, back extension exercises, and chest wall stretches. One should also focus on the abdominal muscles, as strengthening them will help to correct an anterior pelvic tilt.

[PloskoPlus]

K, thanks again Theres a store near me that carries them, so I'll go check it out today. Oh, one last thing.  How much did you pay for yours. Im an amazon prime member, so I get almost $30 off the small and large version.

I don't remember.  But definitely more than you'll ever pay.  Everything costs more in Australia, even when the AUD was worth more than the USD (when I bought mine).  If you're a sucker for punishment, you might want to try one of these as well.
http://www.ironedge.com.au/store/posture-curve.html
http://www.amazon.com/The-Stick-Posture-Curve-Massager/dp/B0013O788O/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

TBH, I'm not sure about physio.  According to the SAID principle, your body adapts to the demands imposed on it.  If you all you do is run, you adapt to running.  And if all of a sudden you decide to ride a bike or swim, you will hurt like hell, and vice versa.  So if you do a crapload of foam rolling and and trigger therapy, eventually you stop feeling discomfort when doing it.  But it doesn't mean your muscles will not get knotted up when doing other activities.

I did a crapload of foam rolling last year, to the point that it didn't hurt at all to roll on that firm rumble roller.  But my muscles were still stiff.  I went to see a physio who does dry needling.  It felt really great initially, but after a few sessions it stopped working.  The muscles wouldn't even twitch when the needles were stuck in them.  And if you look at the research, dry needling is unproven.

[nrelax11]

Well foam rolling only goes so far. If you have a structural problem like myself, you need exercise too. I mean the stretching and foam rolling really helped my anterior pelvic tilt, but once I added resistance band exercises, I saw a huge improvement. 
My forward head posture was improved mostly from stretching and exercising.  I foam rolled my chest and lower/mid traps, but I dont know how much it helped. Mostly rolling a tennis ball along my shoulder blade helped get knots out.

I want to get someones opinion on this because no one has ever really agreed if this is why my posture started getting bad. I use to work at home depot and every shift I wore a weight lifting super tight for almost my whole shift (took it off during breaks/lunch) I did that for a few months working full time most of the time. I quit my job and then a week later I start getting an ache in my lower back. Have had hip/low back achiness for three years now, but only my left side. My theory is that my body got dependant on the belt and my core was taken out of the picture and my back muscles became tight. Fast forward past years of working out with my messed up hip, and I continued making my posture worse leading to my forward head problem and neck pain.

[LoveofScotch]

Hey nrelax11,

Have you had an MRI of your hip, and potentially low back? You mentioned your PT looked at your x-rays and MRI, but I wasn't sure if that was for your neck or your left hip region. Assuming you've had a picture and everything looked OK (you need an MRI, not just an x-ray), have you been assessed for dysfunctional glutes? Also, have you tried incorporating some extension exercises into what you are already doing? They are not magic, but can certainly provide some people with a little relief.

Pain is generally coming from somewhere, but sometimes it's almost impossible to figure out the source. With everything so connected, it can make things complicated.

[nrelax11]

Hey sorry I forgot to mention that, but yeah I had an mri. They found minor arthritis in my L5-S1, but said it shouldnt cause any pain. I've got myself pain free when I was doing all the stretches and exercises I was given..im just back in pain now because I overstretched my nerve in my right thigh so I had to take time off everything. So I know I can fix my issue. Im just in a waiting game now.

 But yea, my glutes are pretty weak though and my exercises were definitely helping. I always thought my right glute was just bigger, but what I've come to learn is that tight muscles appear to be larger. Like I thought my right side of my neck was bigger, but turned out it was very tight and when I stretched it, it returned to the same size as my left. Same as my right glute. When I finally stretched out my right hip and glute, it because smaller and looser. For a while I was just stretching my bad side and wondered why nothing was happing. Not untill I got my right side loose did my painful left side become, well, less painful. Its crazy how imbalanced things can get and how one side can greatly affect the other.

It sucks though, since I cant stretch my right hip or hip flexor right now, I cant relieve my pain and my anterior tilt is real s**tty. Im just waiting another two weeks and my nerve should be healed by then. Its almost been two months. I wanted to sort all this crap out before my surgery,  but it looks like I wont. I just fear im gonna go crazy after my surgery lol. Having all my body issues on top of recovering from surgery.

[nrelax11]

I would like to add a few more things that have really improved my posture lately and has got rid of most of my chronic pain.

First id like to address the psoas muscle. This muscle is a major contributor to anterior pelvic tilt and lot of time is tight and knotted up. I found a good self massage on youtube from a guy who does torque training. I basically do his massage and then do a psoas stretch. The other muscle is the quadtratus lumborum, which attaches from your 12th rib onto the crest of your pelvis. This was also tight on me and I just googled some stetches and found a good one. You can basically use those big exercises balls and do a side bend stretch on it, amd that will stretch out the QL.

Stomach vacuums! Amazing exercise to work your transverse abdominis which will help counteract the stretching of the your tight hip flexor muscles.

Ive also incorporated some body Weight hamstring exercises..I got the exercise on youtube from some dudes channel called athlete x (maybe athlean x)  or some s**t. Just search body weight hamstring exercises. Usually with anterior pelvic tilt,  your hamstrings are going to be elongated and weak.
If you youtube kevin Yates- how to fix anterior pelvic tilt part 4, he has some good exercises and his part 3 I think taught me that when you squat, you should feel it mostly im your glutes, whereas I was really feeling it a lot in my quads. So I stretched and foam rolled my quads/hip flexors before doing body weight squates and it helped a lot.

For upper back and neck pain, the only thing I really added was thoracic extensions on a foam roller. This really helped give more more mobility in my t spine and has helped my neck pain.

What really helped me the most is really working on strenghtening my deep core. Once thats stronger, you can properly do all the exercises because your core is stabalized.

This isnt necessary,  but I also have an inversion table.  I use to have a teeter hangup,  but sold it and just recently got an $87 inversion table on amazon that does the same thing but waay cheaper.

Thats about it, ive been working my ass off to fix my posture and ive finally found the solution for myself.  Always consult with a doctor first before performing any of these exercises if you are experiencing pain. Lol, my dad said I should become a physical therapist because I research daily on bodily functions and I love the human anatomy and helping people. Maybe after becoming a radiology tech I'll look into going back to school. Only if my significant other makes enough money to support that.

[dantheman]

People with FHP, do you guys have any issues sitting on a chair with no back support (eg: bar, picnic table etc). I've been doing back extensions, rows etc for a couple months and swear I cannot sit unless my back is supported. I can't keep my back straight, I would otherwise just hunch over to a ridiculous degree to get somewhat comfortable, which looks plain embarrassing. Anyone else with this problem?.

[nrelax11]

Yea I have trouble:/ it sucks. Right now I have like a chronically tight levator scapulae muscle, so even sitting at a kitchen table is kind of uuncomfortable.  Have you had your shoulder blades looked at? Make sure theyre functioning right.

[dantheman]

I saw a physio once and he was useless. I have a friend who is one and I'll be asking for her opinion. Do you think there is any role for spine X-rays to assess degrees of kyphosis and lordosis. I assume these can be roughly estimated by an experienced physio..... All I know is that I'm starting to feel like an old man in a young body. I also deal with some pain issues related to my extremely pronated feet. I guess some have it a lot better but many have it a lot worse...

[nrelax11]

I dont know if an xray would be necessary because they can usually asses it by measurements and touch.  I mean you can usually just look from a side view and see hyper lordosis or kyphosis. Try and get a second opinion if you can like you said through your friend. Im actually seeing a physio soon,  but hes suppose to be extremely good and has amazing reviews. Ive seen three physical therapist and have fixed my problems a couple times to only have something else go wrong and being back to square one. I feel like an old man and should not have all the pain issues at my young age. You probably have a lot of issues like myself, but I know I caused a lot ofnmy problems through incorrect weight lifting. Which probably gave me bad posture and then I continued working out with horrible posture.

[PloskoPlus]

I used to have much better, straighter posture with foot orthotics (flat feet).  Too bad my feet could not bear them.

[Modigliani]

I read an article recently about the effect toes have on posture, specifically a longer second toe...apparently this this can cause all kind of f**kery with weight bearing, tilting the pelvis and ultimately contributing to the dreaded forward head posture.

[nrelax11]

Yea the feet and calves play a big role in posture. For instance, very tight calves shift the weight throughtput your whole body, usually causing a anterior pelvic tilt.