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Research – The Killer Impact of Forward Leaning Posture


A 20-year University of London study looked at over 4,200 men aged 40-59 and found strong correlation between losing height and mortality. The authors speculated that slumping over postures caused a physical restriction of breathing which significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and respiratory mortality. Link: pubmed.gov National Library of Medicine – Height loss in older men: associations with total mortality and incidence of cardiovascular disease.

Women with a jutting forward head posture were found to have almost half again the risk of dying during the course of one 4-year study. Link: pubmed.gov National Library of Medicine – Hyperkyphotic posture predicts mortality in older community-dwelling men and women: a prospective study.

Looking at posture can give a tremendous amount of information about how a body is working. Link: pubmed.gov National Library of Medicine – Implications for the use of postural analysis as a clinical diagnostic tool: reliability of quantifying upright standing spinal postures from photographic images.

Research shows evidence that poor balance and poor posture can result in pain conditions. Link: pubmed.gov National Library of Medicine – People with chronic low back pain have poorer balance than controls in challenging tasks.

“The frailty of old age is largely reversible.” Rowe, J.W., and Kahn, R.L. (1998) Successful Aging. New York, NY: Pantheon, p. 102. Link: Cambridge University Press John W. Rowe and Robert L. Kahn. Successful Aging. New York: Pantheon Books, 1998

American Pediatrics Association, Media and Children: (https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and- policy/aap-health-initiatives/pages/media-and-children.aspx) – Recommendations by the American Pediatrics Association to reduce the amount of time children spend in front of screens per day.

Armijo-Olivo, S. (2006) The Association Between Head and Cervical Posture and Temporomandibular Disorders: A systematic review. Journal of Orofacial Pain – A systematic review of the literature regarding head postural presentations and temporomandibular joint dysfunction.

Chansirinukor, W. et al. (2001) Effects of backpacks on students: Measurement of cervical and shoulder posture. Australian Journal of Physiotherapy 47(2) – Research study demonstrating the correlation of heavy backpacks and decreased craniovertebral angles of children. Forward head posture is related to heavy backpack carriage based upon load and time spent carrying the load.

Correa, E. et al. (2007) Efficacy of physical therapy on cervical muscle activity and on body posture in school-age mouth breathing children. International Journal of Pediatrica Otorhinolaringology 71(10) – An evaluation of correcting posture and breathing exercises to improve mouth breathing in children.

Cuccia et al. (2008) Oral Breathing and Head Posture. The Angle Orthodontis 78(1) – Study demonstrating the difference in head postural presentation of children who have oral breathing respiratory patterns.

De-La-Liave Rincon, A. et al. (2009) Increased Forward Head Posture and Restricted Cervical Range of Motion in Patients With Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy 39(9) – Study demonstrating the correlation of forward head posture and decreased range of motion in patients who present with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Fejer R, Kyvik KO, Hartvigsen H. The prevalence of neck pain in the world population: a systematic critical review of the literature. Eur Spine J. 2004;15:834–848. – The results of their study showed that patients with neck pain typically have more forward head posture while in the standing position.

Fernandez-de-las-penas, C. (2006) Forward Head Posture and Neck Mobility in Chronic Tension-Type Headache a Blinded Controlled Study. Cephalgia 26(3) – Research demonstrating the correlation of a decreased craniovertebral angle and chronic tension-type headaches.

Hansraj, K (2014) Assessment of stresses in the cervical spine caused by posture and position of the head. Neuro and Spine Sugery #593 – Study that demonstrates forward flexion of the head (as if to check a text message) increases the weight of the head dramatically in comparison to a neutral spinal presentation.

Ho Ting Yip, C. (2008) The relationship between head posture and severity and disability of patients with neck pain. Journal of Manual Therapy 13(2) – Patients with smaller craniovertebral angles have greater forward head posture. The greater the forward head posture, the greater the neck pain disability.

Houghton et al. (2015) Virtually Impossible: Limiting Australian Children and Adolescents Daily Screen Based Media Use. BMC Public Health 15(5) – Research study demonstrating the overuse of “screen time” by children in Australia. The utilization of screens exceeds the healthy recommendation of 2 hours per day by the American Pediatric Association.

Jung-Ho, K. (2006) The Effect of The Forward Head Posture on Postural Balance in Long Time Computer Based Worker. Annals of Rehabilitation Medicine 36(1) – Research study showing the correlation of forward head posture in computer workers and the demonstration of balance disturbance.

Kim, M. et al. (2008) Changes in neck muscle electromyography and forward head posture of children when carrying schoolbags. Ergonomics 51(6) – This study measures variations of muscle stimulation on EMG with the utilization of different styles of backpacks.

Makofsky, H (2000) The influence of forward head posture on dental occlusion. Journal of craniomandibular practice 18(1) – A well established premise in the field of craniomandibular and cervical spine orthopedics is that forward head posture adversely affects mandibular position and therefore dental occlusion.

Nejati, P. et al (2015) THE STUDY OF CORRELATION BETWEEN FORWARD HEAD POSTURE AND NECK PAIN IN IRANIAN OFFICE WORKERS. International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health 28(2) – This research study demonstrates the correlation of poor posture in office workers and the increased prevalence of pain among workers with forward head posture.

Ohmure, H. et al (2008) Influence of forward head posture on condylar position. The Journal of Oral Rehabilitation 35 (11) – A study measuring the correlation of forward head posture and TMJ disorders due to postural differences in symptomatic and healthy individuals.

OSHA publication 3125 (https://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3125.pdf) – OSHA publication demonstrating the prevalence of posture-related missed days of work.

Raine S., Twomey L. T. Head and shoulder posture variations in 160 asymptomatic women and men. Phys Med Rehabil. 1997; 78: 1215-1223 – A research study showing the significance of head, cervical, and shoulder postural distortion patterns.

Silva A. G., Punt T. D., Sharples P., Vilas-Boas J. P., Johnson M. I. Head posture and neck pain of chronic nontraumatic origin: A comparision betweeen patients and pain- free persons. Phys Med Rehabil. 2009; 90: 669-674 – A postural comparison study of asymptomatic patients and patients presenting with chronic neck pain.

Szeto, G. (2002) A field comparison of neck and shoulder postures in symptomatic and asymptomatic office workers. Applied Ergonomics 33(1) – Subjects demonstrated an approximately 10% increase in forward head posture from their relaxed sitting postures when working with the computer display.

Zepa, I et al. (2009) Associations between thoracic kyphosis, head posture, and craniofacial morphology in young adults. Acta Odontologica Scandinavica 58(6) – Study demonstrating that patients who present with a hyperkyphotic thoracic spine have an increased atlantocervical angle.

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