Neck pain - Is your head tilted forward toward the front of your chest, rather than on top of your spine?

A little more about dowagers' hump, also known as buffalo hump, kyphosis, kypho-scoliosis and simply, osteoporosis of the upper thoracic, and/or lower cervical spine. 

When the head is pitched forward over the chest due to habit or anatomy, it affects your whole body, including your vertical and horizontal alignment, your balance and it creates downward shearing forces that enter the skeleton due to misalignment. These are elements that affect your safety, comfort and the ability to move and feel well. 

When I searched 'dowager's hump' online,  I found differing and inconsistent names, symptoms, definitions, descriptions and discussions about the cause and treatment of the fatty deposit around the base of the cervical spine:  from taking more calcium, up to and including injecting a synthetic cement-like substance into the vertebrae to hold them in place and keep them from collapsing forward. Or scary manual manipulation. But there was very little agreement on causation or treatment.

I also did not find anything much to do with improving movement, neither in the entire body, nor in the affected and related areas, as a sane and effective approach to treatment and/or prevention. Simple, non-invasive approaches are the hardest to find, sadly.

In the Feldenkrais Method, however, mobility through the entire body is a key principle of health: our general approach to the body is that the greater capacity for movement and flow through the body that one has, the better one feels. The more that work is distributed through the entire skeleton, the better the body functions, bears weight, balances, stays upright, and is able to do the tasks and activities that make life a joy and worth living. 

In general we humans tend to have far more issues and trouble related to too little movement than problems from doing too much, excluding, of course, our ridiculous capacity to over-do in short spurts and actually injure ourselves. This we do because we do not pay attention to what we are feeling in our bodies, but that is a discussion for another time.

Thus increasing mobility and comfort means more and better movement and quality of life. More energetic flow, creativity, vitality and sense of freedom, all of which contribute to a better sense of self, more self-awareness and consciousness. When we improve movement in any part of our body, it affects everything else. Reclaiming more movement between the shoulder blades gently and rediscovering the upper thoracic spine will change your outlook on life, literally. 

So at minimum, 

1. Begin to pay attention to where your head and body are in space. 
2. Lie on the floor and see how far away from your chest is from your chin. 
3. If your chin is far from your chest and your head rests on the ground toward the top of the head, it means you probably have the pitching forward from your 7th cervical vertebra that is associated with a developing dowager's hump or immobility in this region. 

If you'd like to learn more about classes or individual work, I'd be happy to talk with you. Use the contact form at the top of the page to reach me quickly.  

Best wishes,

Carole