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I love this quote,” movement occurs as the result of the coordinated action of groups of muscles.”
This article is about the root cause of pain. Pain in the head, jaw, neck, shoulder, the back of the arm (triceps), the elbow, wrist (carpel tunnel) and fingers. Also the chest and across the upper back, too. The Root Cause of pain in all those places you say? What do I know about the causes of pain that seems to elude everyone else, you ask? Good question.
The answer is Upper Crossed Syndrome. Basically this is a fancy name for the rounded shoulder, forward head, point with your chin posture that you see on people almost everywhere you look. When this becomes the daily (read chronic) posture of unconscious habit, your muscles have to work tons harder to stay in that position and your ligaments, discs, nerves, fascia and joints have to bear much more load than they were ever meant to, and an uneven load at that. Let’s look at a picture.
Notice both lines connect the front of the body with the back. All of the muscles listed are all supposed to work together as a group to hold your head stable on top of your spine and to turn, bend and rotate your head. Also notice the muscles in red are listed as tight, the ones in black are listed as inhibited. What’s happened as a result of being in this position is: (A) now these muscles are so longer working as a group (B) the black muscles got weak and their ability to function has been inhibited by the tight, short, red muscles. This position is self-sustaining and is capable of causing pain in the structures listed in the above paragraphs with pain between the shoulder blades being one of the most common complaints. The tight, short muscles must be released and stretched and the weak, inhibited muscles must be strengthened. This allows the chest to open up, the neck to lengthen and the shoulder blades to come back to their proper position. By restoring the proper balance and postural alignment, the pain goes away as well.
Correcting postural habits takes some time and starts with awareness, then a routine of simple stretches and strengthening exercises. The pain caused by this syndrome is relieved by massage and often is relieved in short order.
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