FHP patient needing answers

I'm currently undergoing chiropractic treatment for forward head posture, or it could be more kyphosis than FHP. I'm 26 (male) and the reason I decided to get treatment is that I really hate the way my posture makes me look (from the side). Given another decade, I'd be catching up to Bill Gates (I call him turtle man).

When I first went in to see the chiropractor, I was not having pain or symptoms of any kind.

My chiropractor gave me a foam wedge. The program I'm on involves laying on the wedge for 5 minutes every day, and seeing the chiropractor once a week. Fortunately they have a really fast patient login system so I can be in and out in 5 minutes.

The plan is 1 year long, and we're checking my progress via x-ray every 6 months. I'm past the first x-ray check and the image showed that my progress is 90% of what they were hoping for. I hadn't been laying on the wedge every day, but I was doing fairly well. Some weekends I couldn't use it because I was on a hiking trip.

Since then, I neglected using the wedge for roughly a month or two because I lost faith in the process. But I'm trying my hardest to stick it out now.

I'm still really concerned that this isn't going to work. When looking in a mirror, I don't see the difference. And my shoulders appear rounded when in the relaxed position, which also has me really concerned. I don't see any way to fix this, short of breaking bones and letting them heal in a new position.

I'm trying to do everything I possibly can to change this. I'm planning on getting really serious with weight lifting once I get my gym membership in a month or two. I think having big pecs would help minimize how bad my posture looks. My chiropractor says I should be doing rows because having stronger back muscles will make it easier for me to hold my shoulders back all day without feeling fatigue. I can see the logic in that, but I'm also of the opinion that posture is determined more by skeletal shape than muscle strength.

The reason I have FHP is partially genetic; my dad has slight FHP, but not as bad as mine. Mine is likely worse than his because I've been playing with computers a lot since I was 12.

Is there any helpful advice people here might have? I have never seen an example of FHP successfully cured, so if anyone knows where I can find photographic proof of one successful treatment, that would really help renew my faith and dedication to this.

Besides using the wedge, I also put a lot of effort into pulling my shoulders and head back as far as I possibly can--and holding them there--on a regular basis, like while I'm sitting at the computer, or while driving in the car (obviously in both cases I have to keep my head down enough to see forward). It's super uncomfortable, but I always remind myself that pain is unavoidable when causing change. I've been sitting straight up and down and keeping my shoulder muscles pulled tight throughout the entirety of this writing.

I don't care how much pain I have to put myself through, or how many torture devices I have to lay on, to fix this. I just want to know that it can be fixed. Can anyone show me an example of that?

Hi RenderRob,

A number of things come to mind reading your post above...thanks for the info BTW, very informative!

1. Do you have any photos you could post of yourself to help us? Uploading photos of your XRays would also help. The reason i ask is because it is hard to fix something as subjective as posture without seeing it!
2. Good posture is thought of differently by many people. I take a common sense approach to the whole thing...this may be disputed by others (which i welcome) but having "cured" many people of posture problems, i know my way works well :)
a. You shouldn't have to hold your shoulders or your neck in position - where your shoulders sit is based entirely on the angle that your rib cage sits and the relative length and stiffness of your muscles that hold your shoulders onto your body. Your head sits the way it does because of the way your joints are, how long/short your muscles are and your relative centre of gravity (CoG). Most people have a "sway back" posture in my opinion - where their thorax is behind their pelvis when looking from side on. Because the spine is now tilted backwards somewhat, your head pokes forward to keep looking forward. To solve your head and shoulder posture problems, you need to have your spine in a better posture.
b. In general. your sternum and pubic bones should be vertically aligned over each other - forget all the proper angles etc...we will get to them. This is just the first step.
c. Once you get your thorax and pelvis aligned with your base of support, you can work towards getting your head aligned properly.
d. To make this job easier, your CHiro or PT should be identifying what is tight, what is too long, what is weak and what is strong in your muscles, fascia and nerves. Also, the joints which move too much need to be stiffened and the joints that are too stiff need to be loosened. Lastly, the whole system needs to be coordinated properly to ensure everything is balanced nicely.

THis journey is not hard for me to fix...it is mentally difficult for my patients to do. The most common reason why is that they want to rely on how they *feel* instead of where they are in space. Relying on how you feel is dangerous because the brain modulates the information coming in...you can be in the one position and hold it for a week and your brain will change how you feel even though you haven't moved an inch!

In short, ask your health professional about the following (i am out of time - it is 0200hrs in Sydney!)
1. What structures need to be released to make my posture better?
2. What Muscles are too tight or too overactive? What are you doing to address this?
3. What muscles are too loose or too long or too underactive? What are you doing to address this?
4. What joints are too stiff? What are you doing to address this?
5. What joints are too loose? What are you doing to address this?
6. What alignment do you want me to have? What do i have right now? Why don't photos 6 months later show any difference? Why do i not feel any different? What are you doing to address this?
7. What coordination should my body have to hold me in a good posture all day? Why can't i just "be" in a good posture all day? Why is it such hard work?
8. What should i be thinking about to make this better? Why is what i am currently thinking about not helping?
9. How should i sit? Stand? move? walk? run? exercise? Play [insert your sports here!]?

Believe me RenderRob, if your current treatment was working well, you wouldn't be asking about how to fix FHP on this site! I have photos of changing people's posture within seconds! This may not be true for you but i have fixed some pretty bad postures in my lifetime.

Post some photos and let's see what can be done :)

Cheers!