How to Prevent and Correct Forward Head Posture

Forward head posture used to be one of the obvious signs of aging due to decades of gravity causing posture to worsen over time. That’s not the case anymore. With office jobs and the rise of the smartphone, young people spend their day either looking down at their phone or slumping in their office chair. This can cause rounded shoulders and forward head posture.

What is Forward Head Posture?

Think of your body as a vertical stack of building blocks and imagine drawing a vertical line through your body. With forward head posture, your head is positioned out in front of the rest of the “stack”. This causes stress on your spine and neck muscles as your body has to fight gravity to keep your head up, eventually worsening your posture over time.

According to Dr. Adalbert I. Kapandji in “The Physiology of the Joints,” every inch that your head protrudes from its normal position results in 10 additional pounds of force upon your neck. Ouch! To compensate, your hips can tilt forward to keep the head centered over the rest of your body, resulting in your body developing an ‘S’-shape.

How do you prevent or correct Forward Head Posture?

Watch the video below to learn how you can prevent or correct forward head posture by adding a stretching routine to your day.

Want to dive deeper into how inversion can help your back stay healthy? Check out our detailed overview in the “Benefits of Inversion“.