postural imbalance 1 | bac massage therapy

Upper Crossed Syndrome

Several years ago, I stumbled across a series of articles that looked at postural imbalances in the neck/shoulder and hip areas. I was intrigued because I had never heard of the phrase upper crossed syndrome before.

Very quickly into the series, it was like a light bulb went on and I realized that not only did it explain my own symptoms, but those of so many of my clients as well! And it changed how I approached treatment and home stretches for clients.

What exactly is upper crossed syndrome?

In a nutshell, it is an imbalance between weak and tight muscles.

Weak muscles between your shoulder blades (rhomboids & lower traps); tight through upper chest (pecs) & front of shoulders (anterior deltoid); weak neck flexors (muscles along the front of your neck); and tight neck extensors (basically from the top of your shoulder blades up to the base of your skull).

With upper crossed syndrome, you end up in a posture with your shoulders rounded forward and your head forward as well. Think about being pulled forward and down. It also makes maintaining good posture a challenge because the weak muscles can not counteract their tight counterparts, nor are they strong enough to hold neutral posture without fatiguing.
(For more on efficient neutral posture click here)

Now that we know what the problem is, what can we do about it?

Most importantly you need to stretch the tight muscles and strengthen the weak (and keep doing it!) Then, in your massage treatment we work on addressing those same tight muscles and soothing the fatigued weak muscles.

Once you start addressing the muscle imbalance, it is important to regularly check your posture. It is really easy to slide into old patterns & back into the round shoulder, head forward slouch.

​So, who’s ready for some more efficient posture??

Stretch

Chest/Anterior Shoulder Stretch No. 1

1. ​lay on your back on the floor
2. lay your arms on the floor at 90 degrees to your body and relax (your back should not lift off the floor, if it does decrease the angle between your body and arms)
3. start with 1 minute and increase as needed

...for a more intense stretch, hit a doorway ... 

1. place forearms along the door frame at 90 degrees to your body
2. feet hip width apart and staggered one in front of the other
3. lean into the stretch slightly until you feel it across your upper chest
4. hold 30+ seconds and repeat

Chest/Anterior Shoulder Stretch No. 2 

1. ​sit on the floor, with knees bent or legs extended infront of you
2. place hands on the floor behind you, fingers pointing towards your hips
3. lift sternum (brest bone) towards the ceiling
4. hold for 30+ seconds then repeat

Lateral trapezius Stretch

1. place fingertips of your right hand under your buttock
2. shift head, moving your left ear towards the left shoulder until you feel a stretch
3. apply extra stretch using your left hand on the side of your head if needed
4. hold for 30+ seconds the repeat
5. switch to the other side and repeat

Trapezius Stretch

1. sitting on the floor, reach your arms behind you, right hand going over and reaching down, left going under and reaching up (see photo)
   
2. grasp fingers in the middle if you can (use a strap if you cannot)
3. keeping your shoulder blades on your ribs so they don't wing out
4. hold for 30+ seconds, repeat, then switch sides

Strength

Resistance Band Row 

1. stand with your feet on the resistance band, hip width apart, knees soft​
2. bend forward at the hip, making sure to keep your back straight and roughly parallel to the floor
3. hold resistance band so that it forms an X
4. engage the muscles between your shoulder blades and pull the band up towards your body (the motion is just like when you row but bent forwards)
5. start with one set of 10 rows and build from there

Cervical Spine Nod

1. laying on the floor in a comfortable position
2. nod your head ( keeping it on the ground) bringing your chin back towards your neck (the back of your neck will elongate as you nod)
3. relax back to neutral
4. repeat 10 times