Did you know that shoulder tension happens more because our head is not positioned correctly on top of shoulders (forward head) vs. stress? The first sign of posture deterioration — forward head, or ‘text neck’ – is shortness in the front of the neck, chest and upper abs. We get this from so much looking down, at our phones, in particular. The muscles in our back then become overstretched and weak. This can cause decreased lung capacity, headaches, neck pain and jaw problems. This week’s yoga sequences in my *7 Weeks to Better Posture* course focus on this dilemma and what you can do to prevent or correct it. This article is a nice supplement.
Text neck is a very real and concerning phenomena in this day and age. I encourage you all to be more aware of it and make adjustments in your body as needed so that you don’t end up with that ‘dowager’s hump’ as you get older! (Oh, and BTW, for those of you who prefer to spend more time reading books than scrolling on your phone, I also more aptly call this ‘Bookworm Neck!’)
Update: I added the Vinyasa version of my Sequence for Text Neck to this blog post here. Enjoy!