If you’ve been working at a laptop recently, or if you’ve never practiced proper typing posture, you may have incurred all sorts of joint pain. In a recent post, we discussed how you can modify your home office to allow yourself to have better posture. But if you’ve been slouching forward for an extended period, you may have developed a deformity called Upper Crossed Syndrome. Although this condition is painful, we at Kosak Chiropractic in Fairfield can correct it using non-invasive methods. But you need to be able to recognize the problem and get help as soon as you are able.
There are several reasons a person might sit with their head thrust forward: they might be using a laptop, or driving long distances or frequently riding a bicycle. Regardless, doing these things puts excessive pressure on the muscles of the upper back and the pectorals. In turn, the counterbalancing muscles of the front of the neck and midsection of the back become slack and weaken. When seen from the side, a person with Upper Crossed Syndrome’s tight muscles form a diagonal line, and their weak muscles form an intersecting line, thus the cross in the upper body.
People with Upper Crossed Syndrome slump forward painfully, with their heads thrust forward but still held upright. This often causes them to experience soreness from their jaw to their lower back. Chiropractic adjustments can help relieve the discomfort from this and put the patient in a better condition to recover, but recovery will require both better posture and therapeutic exercise. Patients will need to avoid slouching in the future, which may require them to take more breaks from sitting in addition to sitting up straight and keeping their heads up.
Kosak Chiropractic is located at 1252 Travis Blvd., Suite G, Fairfield, CA, 94533. To schedule an appointment, visit Kosak Chiropractic online or call 707-426-1111.