Stop the Hump

Dowager's Hump is becoming a quiet plague on our society; no longer just for the geriatric community but now is spreading two people of all ages and will shockingly in young children who have become accustomed to long periods of inactivity and modern technology. So what exactly is Dowager’s Hump? How do we start looking for the signs that one may be developing? And what are some things we need to do about it when we see it?

Dowager’s Hump is a common term used to described a change in the shape of the upper spine that causes the head to move forward and the arms to fall forward as well. The clinical term is kyphosis what one time this was considered to be an older woman's problem as osteoporosis set in the weight of the upper body but slowly crush the spine into a forward curvature. Now you see the same younger people and in both genders more commonly because we are a downward looking forward facing society. 

One of the most prominent changes in the body gives us an indication that there is a problem is self-assessment and a mere. A simple way to find out if there's a possibility it could be developing a hump is to place your heels against the wall with your hips touching the wall your back of your head touching the wall and both of your shoulders touching the wall. If you find this position painful or it takes a significant amount of effort to create this proper posture the second step is to have an independent qualified practitioner observe your body.

If you think you see developing as stated in the last paragraph it is important to speak to a qualified practitioner. This may be a chiropractor, orthopedic massage therapist, physical therapist, or general medical practitioner, even a properly certified personal trainer may be able to do a reasonable assessment. If a qualified practitioner can identify the poor posture in the beginning of a slide in the upper body forward it is important to then get it confirmed with an MRI or x-ray to confirm there are presently no bulging disc's or serious degeneration of bone in the upper or lower spine which can also cause the same effect but has an extremely different treatment. If the test come back negative for serious spinal injury the next step is to begin to counteract the effect of the movement forward this means given signals to the central nervous system to loosen hypertonic muscles and to tone isotonic muscles (make a tight muscles loose and make the weak muscles tone. Depending on how much the kyphosis has preceded there are several steps involved to getting rid of the hump altogether. 

The most important thing is to counteract the movement forward this can be done in several ways over a long period time and the most important thing is to find out early and prevent further damage because want to hump starts to show eventually a buildup of fatty tissue will occur this is the very distinctive narrow home that many people remember in their parents and grandparents. 

Very quickly this fat filled area will start to become very rigid and is the body's natural way of attempting to counteract forward movement affected by creating a counterbalance that is very rigid that pulls back the soft tissue of the body as much as possible this intern severely limits your range of motion. Current studies indicate that there is a significant increase in the number of children with this problem and this would tell us that looking down at cell phone screens and poor posture from our very cushy furniture and beds will also greatly contribute to this problem.

Another reason you’ve found the best massage in Minneapolis, Tony Schwartz Bodywork…see you on the table!