The “Texting Neck”: Forward Head Positioning

You’ve probably heard the saying that for every inch the neck bends forward over the neutral spine position, it creates an extra 10 lbs. of weight on your neck muscles. This creates a lot of pressure on those muscles not intended for that purpose. The muscles that elongate become weak and can easily cause injuries, such as tears in the muscle fibers, a lack of rotation and side bending, and joint instability.  

Bad posture can also lead to jaw pain. In fact, forward head positions create much more tension on the jaw muscles.  Pinched nerves, muscle spasms, stiffness, and knots in muscles around the neck and shoulders due to awkward postures can trigger migraines. 

It may be hard for you to tell if your head is hanging forward ahead of your shoulders, but the headaches and neck pain will most certainly let you know! Having someone take a side profile picture of your standing position can be a huge awakening to the poor posture you have endured. A simple test you can try is to sit up straight and see how far you can turn your head left and right, followed by moving your head forward as far as you can and trying to turn left and right. The second time, you will find it harder with a limited range of motion. 

This head positioning could be unconsciously used due to straining to see computers, phones, and other screen devices.   In massage therapy, we call it the “Texting Neck.”  Whatever the reason for getting there, it is time to improve posture, release tension, get rid of headaches, and hopefully maintain it with good spine and muscle care. Massage therapists are your experts in soft tissue mobilization.  But we need your help! We need to know what you are feeling, where and what type of pain, as well as your tolerance to touch, and what range of motion you currently have. 

Neck work can be tricky because with limited movement and pain comes a lot of protective guarding, and we don’t blame you.  The best job I can offer a client is to assist the client with a soft stimulus to specific muscles to initiate a nervous system response to the target muscle to relax. This stimulus sends body chemicals to relax areas of tension, allowing for additional work of deeper fascial stretching and better mobilization of the spine.

My clients often say that the treatment allows them to fully relax and be an active participant in the process, which is comforting to them. Most clients are also surprised that something so gentle could get rid of the pain within minutes. But the session isn’t over just because the pain went away. As a therapist, there is still much to do, and the massage can be more enjoyable with continued therapeutics…and I’d say the clients don’t ever complain about staying for the full session.

~Julie Haufe, LMT, Reiki Master