Our bodies have two things “programmed” into them:
1. To do “whatever it takes to keep the head level and eyes forward”
2. To keep the spine erect
I’ll cover the second condition in another posting. I’ll also do a quick summary of all this later on.
So why does the body try to do Item 1 ?
In our skulls we have balance devices in the inner ear. These devices consist of some little bones called the “semi-circular canals”. In each ear, there are three sets of bones all at 90 degrees to each other.
http://www.daviddarling.info/images/sem ... canals.jpg
These work together with a bone structure that looks like a snail shell and is called the cochlea.
http://img.tfd.com/dorland/thumbs/canal ... -ossei.jpg
Inside the little bones are a series of small hairs. The bones are hollow and filled with fluid. The hairs are attached to nerves. The nerves eventually attach to the brain. Whenever we move, the fluid moves and causes the hairs to move. This movement is picked up by the nerves and passed to the brain. The brain then interprets whether we are moving in one direction or another. These sensors work with what the eyes detect. When our eyes are level and balanced [ neither up or down, neither left or right ] this helps the brain in determining whether we are correctly balanced.
So why does it matter if the head is balanced ?
Our spines are made up of three curves:
1. The cervical curve [ your neck ]
2. The thoracic curve [ your upper back ]
3. The lumbar curve [ your lower back ]
These curves are designed to allow maximum movement and strength. Each curve is made up of a number of bones [ vertebrae ] and some shock absorbers [ disks ]. The spinal chord comes comes down from the brain and at each junction between the bones, a certain number of nerves fan out from the spinal cord via little holes called the inter-vertebral foramen [ “inter” means between, “vertebra” means bone and “foramen” means hole – so these are holes between the vertebra bones ]. Again, I have to put these terms here, as they are what doctors use, and one the goals of these postings is for people to feel comfortable with the terms doctors use when talking about their back problems, MRI’s, X-rays etc., in the same way as the military does with “cock- hook –and-look” , “gas reg down two clicks”, “tabbing”, etc.
http://members.cox.net/injections/image ... ramen1.jpg
If you look at the link, you will see the round yellow bits [ the vertebra of your spine ], a darkish blue bit [ a disk ] and a light blue thing [ your spinal cord ]. You can see the gaps between the bones. Those are the foramen. Nerves from the spinal cord fan out of these holes to your arms , legs heart etc. Some of these nerves are pain nerves. You can see that if something was to press against the nerves, it could cause pain. What would cause something to press against the nerves ? Many things. Imagine that the disk height was to decrease [ more about this in another posting ]. The bones of the vertebrae could then touch the nerve. If the spine is twisted [ as mine was ] that could do it. If a disk ruptures, material comes out of the disk and presses against the nerves [ as mine was also ]
If we are perfectly balanced, the holes in the spine are nice and open, and the disks are of normal height, and we can move around normally, we should never have any case where the nerves get pinched. So what has all this to do with the head ?
http://www.coloradocenter4pt.com/images/ccpt_12_16.gif
Take a look at this link. This is the way we are supposed to be.
Notice that the center plumb bob line goes perfectly down the middle of the body. A plumb bob is a piece of lead on the end of a string that builders use to make sure that something is straight. What can we see from this ? Well, we can see that the head is perfectly balanced on the shoulders and that the pelvis is perfectly balanced on top of the legs.
In other words, all the weight of the skeleton passes in a straight line down the body.
Notice where the plumb bob ends. Towards the heels, not the toes.
The average human head is about the same weight as a bowling ball. It is supposed to “square on the shoulders”. Why ? So that it’s weight passes down through the center of gravity of the body. This means that the spine is not subjected to any twisting or pulling or toppling forces, as it should be.
Take a look at the young soldiers in this photo Everything looks good posture wise: heads back, chins out, straight as arrows.
http://images.newsquest.co.uk/image.php ... &type=full
However what about older soldiers, and what about looking at them from the side ?
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/4 ... r2_416.jpg
Take a look at the warrant officer’s head. If you draw a line down from the center of his ear, you will see that it does not pass down through the center of his shoulder.
Why does all this matter ?
In the previous case, if nothing else happened, he would actually start to topple over. Why ? The weight of his head alone being off center would actually topple him. In order to prevent this, something must be holding him up. That something is the muscles of the lower back. They automatically tighten up to prevent this. The next thing that happens is that the toes and front of the shins tighten up, literally trying to prevent you from toppling over. Those of you who do judo etc know how easy it is to topple someone over [ who is not resisting ]. Those muscles can remain tight for years or decades. In another posting, I’ll explain the long term [ bad ] effects of tight muscles. Many foot and leg problems are caused by other areas of the body. I’ll cover foot problems and what to do about them in a separate post.
Those tight lower back muscles contain nerves, and eventually those nerves can become pressed against causing back pain. The second problem that can occur is that when the back muscles tighten [ as a result of trying to keep the body stable ], the lumbar curve will change [ you can measure this, and I’ll put it on a different post ]. When it changes, it compresses the disks. The disks will lose water and become narrower [ called degenerative disk disease – more on that later – I had it very bad ]. When they become narrower, the foramen [ hole ] becomes smaller and the nerves are more easily pressed against when the spine twists.
In many cases of people with a forward head that myself and my therapist have seen, by moving the head further back to where it should be, back pain has improved. The chest and shoulders also can cause problems and will be addressed in the next post.
Try this. Stand sideways to a mirror completely relaxed. Do not try to stand with good posture. Just relax. Either have a mate take a photo or very slowly turn your eyes [ and your head a little if necessary ] to see your head in the mirror. Draw an imaginary line through the center of your ear and see if it passes through the middle of your shoulders. It should. I think many people will be surprised by what they see.
I’ll cover neck pain later on, as it tied in with this as well.
Once we’ve got all the theory out of the way, I’ll discuss what causes these problems in military and civilian life and how can get rid of their effects.
Cheers
Dave
