The Upper Cross Syndrome (UCS) is one of the more common postural misalignments we see.  It is defined as an imbalance between the muscles of the neck, shoulders, chest and upper back.

In UCS the pec minor, sub-occipitals, upper trapezius and levator scapula are tight/overactive while the deep neck flexors, rhomboids and lower trapezius are weak and underactive.

This pattern creates the shoulders to round forward and the upper spine to move into kyphosis (hunch back).  In addition, this is commonly coupled with forward head posture (FHP) where the head juts forward and chin tilts upward.  These postural changes also decrease glenohumeral stability and cause the levator scapula and upper trapezius to increase activation to maintain glenohumeral centration^[1].

It can easily be surmised that with the advent of smart phones, texting and all our time sitting in chairs and the computer, UCS has become more prevalent in recent years, but poor posture has been a part of the human experience since forever and thus UCS has been here too.

Combatting UCS is not difficult, though it may be a lifelong activity.  That’s mostly because maintaining good posture is a lifelong endeavor.  If you are having neck pain, shoulder pain/elevated shoulders or feel your posture is just never right, try some of these and see if they can help.