In recent years, the forward head and neck posture, which has attracted attention as a smartphone neck and a straight neck, is a posture seen in a wide range of age groups, including young people.A joint research group from Kanazawa University, Chukyo University, Hiroshima University, and Marquette University (USA) revealed that the cause of fatigue in the forward head and neck posture is abnormal muscle activity of the upper trapezius muscle.
Continuing a posture in which the head is always forward causes various symptoms such as headaches and stiff shoulders.
The research group consisted of two young subjects (nine subjects in the FHP group) who habitually assumed a forward head and neck position (head and neck angle of less than 53 degrees) and those with a normal head and neck position (head and neck angle of 9 degrees or more) ( A normal group of 53 people) were asked to hold three different sitting postures (comfortable posture, posture with the head and neck forward, and posture with the head and neck pulled back) for 10 minutes each. We investigated the relationship between muscle activity and fatigue in the buttocks.
As a result, the FHP group complained of fatigue more strongly in all postures than the normal group, and excessive muscle activity occurred in the upper trapezius muscle.In addition, the normal group showed the least amount of fatigue complaints and muscle activity in the comfortable posture, whereas the FHP group exhibited strong complaints of fatigue and excessive muscle activity in all postures. and muscle activity did not change.
Our results imply that changing the position of the head and neck alone does not reduce fatigue in the FHP group, suggesting the importance of correcting muscle activity abnormalities in the upper trapezius fibers.It is expected that these findings will be utilized in the future for the development of seats for the realization of intervention methods for forward head and neck posture and comfortable sitting posture.
Paper information:[Scientific Reports] Influence of forward head posture on muscle activation pattern of the trapezius pars descendens muscle in young adults