Over the past 10 years at Newark's Best Chiropractor, Advanced Back & Neck Pain Center, I have noticed that more and more patients come to us not simply for pain, but rather for posture issues. Specifically, they feel like poor posture makes them look worse. Now, in almost all situations, we are our own worst critics for how we look but it does make sense, right? Studies have shown that a better, more upright posture is statistically more attractive to others and who doesn't want to feel more attractive?
The most common specific concern people have is that they are developing a 'neck hump'. Basically, this is an increase in the size of the area at the base of their neck/top of their shoulders. There are certain medical conditions that can cause this, and when it's caused by something like Cushing's Disease, it can be referred to as a Buffalo Hump. But for essentially everyone that we see in the office, the neck hump is a byproduct of poor posture.
This happens because your body remodels in response to stress. We see numerous examples of this in the spine, especially in the case of bone spurs and arthritis. In the case of the neck hump, when your neck and spine are in the proper position and alignment, the stress is distributed evenly among the vertebrae. When we lose our normal alignment though, the stress tends to get focused in certain regions instead of being spread around. The base of the neck is one such area, and the increased stress there causes the body to put down more soft tissue to help absorb the stress, leading to the development of the Neck Hump!
The good news about the neck hump is that it can be corrected! Proper spine alignment and proper posture can be restored with a combination of exercises, adjustments, and tractions (E.A.T.). These different tools target the muscles, joints, and ligaments, respectively, and all are necessary to fully correct any misalignments in the area.
As chiropractors at Newark's Best Chiropractor, Advanced Back & Neck Pain Center, this is what we deal with on a daily basis! And there is nothing we enjoy more than seeing the health of our patient's spine improve, leading to posture improvements, and of course, no more Neck Hump! If you are concerned about your posture, please call us anytime at 302-368-1300 or visit www.advancedback.com to make an appointment. We can evaluate your spine using multiple diagnostic tools to determine if it's truly out of alignment and the best and fastest way to fix it!
