Understanding Forward Head Posture and Breathing

Most people with forward head posture think that it's an issue primarily with

muscles in the neck being overactive, pulling the head and neck forward.

So they do exercises like chin tucks to try to fix the issue, but this is only

addressing the symptom, not the underlying root cause.

The problem isn't tight muscles. Yes, those muscles are tight

and holding the head

and neck forward, but we have to ask why they're doing

that in the first place.

Research consistently shows that when the diaphragm and other muscles

that help

draw air into our rib cage do not work very well and we have

dysregulated breathing, muscles on the front side of the neck work

in overdrive

to help us accomplish that, to get that expansion and opening of our rib

cage. Typically, these muscles, like your scalenes

and sternocleidomastoid,

are accessory muscles of inhalation.

But because they attach on the collarbone and some of the first ribs, they have

leverage to help elevate the rib cage when the diaphragm and those other

muscles aren't doing their job. But the problem is this creates a feedback

loop.

The more the diaphragm stops working, the more the neck muscles want to kick on,

which shuts off the diaphragm more, so the neck muscles have to work even

harder,

and before you know it, you have this head that's stuck forward.

So we have to go back to the beginning and address what kicked on the neck in the

first place. We have to teach the diaphragm

and other muscles of inhalation to help

open up the rib cage, especially the front rib cage,

without the neck kicking on

too much. By re-educating a better breathing

pattern, we don't give the neck a

reason to compensate and work too hard in the first place.

For this, all you need is your feet up on a chair with your knees

bent at around a

90-degree angle. Also, get two foam rollers

or just a couple of books stacked up,

so that way you can rest them on the ground and your elbows can be at the

height of

your shoulders, and they can just drop back

and rest on those foam rollers.

This is gonna take all the tension out of your chest, but open it to expand

easily. The last key piece of the setup is allowing your chin to passively point

towards the ceiling. You don't want it to be collapsed like

this.

Now, the rest is simple. Ensure there's no tension in your body,

open your mouth,

and just with a relaxed jaw, let the air fall out of you like this

for about five to ten seconds. At the end of that exhale,

you're going to feel your

side ab muscles engage, your obliques.

Pause at that point, close your mouth, and put your tongue on the roof of your

mouth. After about a two-second pause, inhale very gently, maintaining a

little bit of that side ab tension you got from the exhale.

Again, let the air fall into your nostrils and

expand your chest naturally. If you're holding onto just a tiny bit of

that side ab tension, you will feel your chest

and belly rise simultaneously

really nicely. What you do not want to do

is force your abs to

engage by just consciously contracting them.

You want the exhale to guide your rib cage down, hold the ribs down here,

so that way this naturally expands.

The gentle inhale is key because it's going to keep your neck shut off and

not engaging as a compensation to help you elevate your rib cage.