Neck Alignment: How Does It Effect Our Neck Muscles?

Let’s think about this one. We have a 10-20 lb bowling ball resting on our neck spine. As a matter of fact, for every inch the head moves into forward neck posture, it is equivalent to 10 lbs of extra weight and pressure on your neck and upper back spine, and all the parts that go along with it (Kapandji, Physiology of the Joints, Vol. 3).

Forward head posture is one of the most common postural neck misalignments, so you can imagine how hard muscles in the back of the neck have to work to maintain neck posture and alignment.

Misalignments cause certain muscles to be constantly contracted and others to be constantly stretched. This will often more easily contribute to a muscle strain or neck muscle spasm.

This is just an example of forward head posture, let’s imagine a scoliosis posture. With scoliosis we have maybe an “S” shaped curve or a “C” shaped curve when looking at the spine from the front or back. On the one side, muscles will be constantly elongated and tensioned, on the other side they will be shortened and tightened.

These are just two examples, but with any misalignments or abnormal spinal alignments you will affect the muscles.

Additional Reading Resources:

• Neck Posture
• Neck Surgery, Your Last Resort
• How to Choose the Right neck Pillow
• How to Use the Posture Pump 1000 cervical traction unit for forward head posture: Video
• Herniated Disc in the Neck