Unlock your t-spine (part 1)

Did you know that just 1 inch of forward head carriage makes an 11 pound head add 25 pounds of pressure to the spine?

We have advanced our society through amazing technological inventions over hundreds of years and while these advances have provided huge benefits, they are not without consequences.

Because most of us are using computers, tables, cell phones, and spending most of the time using these devices in a seated position. The current average screen time usage in the US is 6 hours 34 minutes. Because using devices require a fair amount of brain power, our bodies resort to as relaxed a position possible and for most of us, it looks something like this.

Rounded spine position most of us adopt when sitting.

Unfortunately when our body spends over 6 hours a day in this position day in and day out, the upper back and neck get stuck in this pattern and translate our standing posture to something like this.

You can see how the hips shift forward, the upper back or thoracic spine (t-spine for short) becomes more rounded and the head sticks out way in front of the shoulders. This lateral line posture of the guy on the right is an increasingly more common posture, just take a second to look around the next time you are in a public place. This month we’re going to work through some exercises focusing more on the t-spine but also getting you out of this lateral posture pattern. Stay tuned!