Dr. David Koivuranta explains why chin tucks flatten your neck's natural curve and can cause shoulder and arm pain. He recommends instead imagining a string pulling your head up and back at a 45-degree angle. Smartphone use and downward gazing have straightened necks over the past two decades.
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Hey everyone, it's Dr. Dave. Hopefully you're doing well and you're out there creating those great experiences in your life. I just had someone come by my boutique practice that I operate outside the clinic and they came by for a bit of an emergency session, if you will, and I'm open to that. I make myself available to people so they can come in and see me because health doesn't take a holiday and it's also always working. So sometimes things happen not when the clinic's open, and so we try to be available to people. But the interesting thing about this visit is that the person had some discomfort in through the right side of the shoulder and arm, and they had been told to tuck their chin in to help with some of that discomfort. And I don't know how this looks to you when I tuck my chin in, but One of the things that it does is it really flattens your neck. And what we're finding on some of our test results as we examine people on a weekly basis now, probably over the last two decades actually, even before the advent of the smartphone, is that the curve in people's necks is actually straightening out too much. And this chin tuck that we sometimes are given as an exercise to help alleviate some of the discomfort, it feeds into that straightness. And the reason that's become even more concerning is that the posture change is exponentially becoming an epidemic because so many people are engaged in tasks that are looking down instead of looking up. So instead of a chin tuck, it would be great to think of just being taller, head up and back, almost like there's a string at 45 degrees coming off the top of the head, pulling it up and back, almost like a dancer. So it pulls you a bit taller. Instead of tucking the chin, which you can see is kind of not only visually kind of awkward, but it kind of doesn't feel as right as just being tall, staying level with the horizon and looking straight ahead, not up, not down, but just bringing it all up and back. And that can actually help alleviate and take some of the tension off the neck, upper back, especially if there's any soreness and stuff going into the arms or hands. So unlike exercises or stretches and strengthening activities, I think just being aware of your posture is something you can do in a lot a lot of situations when there's discomfort, but even then, if you're having some kind of pain, soreness, and ache that's not going away and you're engaged in some kind of self-care, just be cautious. I would still go get it checked out so you can find out exactly why that's happening and what the best solution would you— for you would be. Get that individualized and personalized to you. You'll find that you get better results when you start taking care of that properly. Alright, if you have any questions about that tallness or that posture position, send me an email. You can call me. I'm always available when I can. I'll get back to you as fast as I can. I'm always here to help.
