Posture and Our Health

I’m not sure about everyone else, but when I grew up I heard “straighten up” almost on a daily basis, mainly because correct posture was socially expected, a trait of beauty, and conveyed confidence; what my parents forgot to mention is that correct posture is essential to our health. Unfortunately, with the rise of technology and the importance it holds in our day lives, we have allowed our posture to decline. We strain our heads forward and down in order to see the screen of any mobile device we are using at the time, a posture known as forward-head posture (FHP) or “text neck”. I was reading an article on this problem specifically and would like to share what I learned.


This FHP does not single itself out to only when we are looking at our mobile devices; our necks get so used to the posture that when we lift our heads back up our necks still shift forward in an almost permanent position. The further forward our necks shift, the harder our muscles have to work to keep the head upright. Normally an average head weighs 12 lbs, for every inch of shift and extra 10 lbs of functional weight is added. All of this means that if our neck shifted our heads forward 2 inches our muscles would be straining to support 32 lbs rather than the 12 lbs they were meant to carry1. 

 As if that fact wasn't intimidating enough, this increase in functional weight has been associate with various conditions1: 


  • Arthritis
  • Back pain
  • Carpal tunnel syndrome
  • Constipation
  • Decreased lung capacity
  • Decreased quality of lice
  • Depression
  • Fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Heart disease
  • Increased blood pressure
  • Indigestion
  • Neck pain
  • Neurological problems
  • Poor circulation
  • Shortened life span
  • Temporomandibular joint disorder
The nice thing is massage therapy can help, coupled with exercise, the straining taking place in our necks may be able to slow and even reverse. I look forward to helping you if you believe you need help with your FHP, call and set up an appointment at Grand Junction Chiropractic (970) 241-1199

1Whitten, Y. “The Posture Window.” Massage and Bodywork, Oct. 2017, pp. 49-55

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