{"id":270,"date":"2022-04-05T17:44:34","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T17:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/?p=270"},"modified":"2022-04-05T17:44:34","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T17:44:34","slug":"it-is-all-about-the-curve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/it-is-all-about-the-curve\/","title":{"rendered":"It is all about the curve"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sorry baseball fans this is not the curve you are likely thinking\nabout.  I am talking about the curve of\nyour neck.  The spine is made up of 24\nmoveable vertebra bones, while the neck specifically is made up of 7 cervical\nvertebra, surrounding, and protecting, the brain stem, spinal nerves, and\nspinal cord.  If you were to look at babies\nwhen they are in the womb from the side, their spine is shaped like the letter “C”,\nthink the fetal position, which we call kyphosis.  Our head is at the top end of the kyphosis\ncurve, while our pelvis is at the bottom. \nAfter birth we learn to lift our head and this begins to completely reverse\nthe neck part of the kyphosis curve into what we call a lordosis (at this point\nour spine shape would be similar to that of a mirror image of a “S”\nfrom the side profile).  Later as we\nbegin to walk we reverse the lower back part of the spine into a lumbar\nlordosis, similar to that of the cervical lordosis; the mid back, or thoracic\nspine, will however maintain some amount of the original kyphosis curve.  Being that spinal curvature is formed early\nduring childhood there is a critical window of opportunity to develop these\nhealthy curves; giving opportunity to not properly developing these curves and\npossibilities of a life time of challenges as a result.  As for adults, our job is to support and\nmaintain the health of these curves in our spine.  Proper spinal curvatures gives us flexibility,\nmobility, force or shock absorption, weight distribution, reduced disc\npressure, and structural support.  Abnormal\nloss of cervical lordotic curve, otherwise know as straightening, cervical\nspine kyphosis, military neck, cervical hypolordosis, reversal of cervical\ncurve or straight neck is associated with degenerative changes in the muscles,\nligaments, discs, and bones of the cervical spine which in turn will cause an\neffect on the nervous system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the most common causes of loss of curve in the\nneck?  Hands down poor posture and\nwhiplash are the most common.  Other\npossible causes of the loss of curve in the neck could be degenerative changes,\nosteoporosis, birth defects, car accidents, slip and falls, sports injuries, head\ninjuries, poor sleeping habits, poor ergonomics, poor posture, and text\nneck.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Did you know the average human head weights about 12 pounds?\u00a0 That is about the weight of a bowling ball!\u00a0 As we loose curve in the neck the head starts to move forward on the shoulders. Understand that for every inch of forward head posture, this increases work load on the surrounding soft tissues, due to leverage, by an average of 10 pounds.\u00a0 This is why poor posture is such a huge problem.\u00a0 Think about all those hours spent hunched over looking down at your Smartphone or tablet, driving while slouched, etc.\u00a0 Want to test this out?\u00a0 Get a 10 pound weight, bag, or bowling ball and first hold it with both hands near your chest.\u00a0 It’s not to bad right?\u00a0 Now hold the weight out in front of your chest a few inches, and then at arms length, feel the difference?\u00a0 More work isn’t it.\u00a0 Now you understand one reason why that 2 hour drive can make you so stiff and sore in your neck and shoulders, or how after writing that paper on the computer your neck and shoulders feel so fatigued.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the most common symptoms with loss of neck\ncurve?  Neck pain1<\/sup>, neck\nstiffness, arm pain, lack of concentration, headaches, nerve pain, radiating\npain numbness or weakness into arms, fatigue, back pain, dizziness2<\/sup>,\npoor posture, reduced range of motion, disc injuries, pinched nerves, increased\ninjuries during a car crash if you had loss of cervical curvature prior to the\ncrash3<\/sup>, thoracic outlet syndrome, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia,\nreduced range of motion in the neck, shoulder pain, reduced range of motion in\nthe shoulders, difficulty eating or breathing, upper back pain, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can you do to support, and\/or restore the curvature of your neck?\u00a0 In this situation it is best to employ the expertise of a trained healthcare professional to guide you through the process; like a chiropractor or physical therapist.\u00a0 First of all, loss of neck curve is generally diagnosed from radiographs, or x-rays, of the neck.\u00a0 Neck curve can be supported, maintained, and restored but it takes effort and time.\u00a0 You will need to asses, and correct, your movement patterns and ergonomics of your everyday life; including driving position, reading position, workstation ergonomics, sleeping position, standing position, cooking positions, cleaning positions, etc.\u00a0 You will need exercises, stretching, foam rolling, cervical spine manipulation and mobilization, possibly a cervical orthotic devise, and likely cervical spine traction.\u00a0 It takes a complete regimen to restore and maintain the cervical curve, but it is worth it.\u00a0 Appreciate that much like an orthodontist with correcting the alignment of teeth using external fixation like braces, this takes time to first correct and then requires effort to maintain and support, much like what an orthodontist would refer to as a retainer.\u00a0 So don’t take your curve for granted and get out there and correct, support, and maintain your curve.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.  Does improvement\ntowards a normal cervical sagittal configuration aid in the management of\ncervical myofascial pain syndrome: a 1- year randomized controlled trial.  Ibrahim M. Moustafa,\nAliaa A. Diab, Fatma Hegazy and Deed E. Harrison.  BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 201819:396.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.The effect of normalizing the sagittal cervical\nconfiguration on dizziness, neck pain, and cervicocephalic kinesthetic\nsensibility: A 1-year randomized controlled study.  European journal of physical and\nrehabilitation medicine 53(1) \u00b7 August 2016. DOI:\n10.23736\/S1973-9087.16.04179-4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Stemper et al. Journal of Biomechanics 2005:http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/15863116<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sorry baseball fans this is not the curve you are likely thinking about.  I am talking about the curve of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[122,123,64,17,124,47,93,14,86,18,120,121,55,125],"class_list":["post-270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cervical-spine","tag-cervical-spine-pain","tag-chiropractic","tag-chiropractic-tips","tag-headaches","tag-health","tag-health-tips","tag-healthy","tag-healthy-lifestyle","tag-hesperia-chiropractor","tag-neck","tag-neck-pain","tag-posture","tag-text-neck"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions\/455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}