by Dr. Michelle Irwin

One of the things that come to mind when we think of warriors is a strong upright posture, but the weekend warriors of today tend to have differing postures than what we are used to seeing. The Upper Cross syndrome and Lower Cross syndrome are the dominate postures of today’s warriors.

What does that mean? Upper Cross syndrome is when the chest and front muscles get tighter, pulling the back muscles to the point of over stretching which leads to rounded forward shoulders. Lower cross syndrome is when the hamstrings are so tight, they pull on the pelvis causing the quads to be weaker and stretching the lower back muscles while tightening the hip flexors. The pulling on the thigh muscles will not only lead to sciatica, but also knee pain and ankle issues. The rounding of the upper back and chest can ultimately lead to elbow and wrist issues and numbness and tingling.

Have you ever been on a hike or a walk and suddenly you aren’t sure if you will be able to make back home because your knee will not move or hold you up and you experience shooting pains in the legs? Or maybe you are no longer able to put weight on a leg to go up the stairs because your knee is too painful or is giving out under you. This may seem like it came out of the blue, but it is something that was a long time coming with the growing lower cross syndrome. Both upper cross and lower cross syndrome build over time and you won’t know you have it until it is too late, and you feel it. So, we need to make sure we are getting checked out and focusing more on our posture when we are working, doing our chores and having fun!

Stretching daily, moving more, and getting checked regularly for subluxations and postural distortions will help us avoid all the pit falls of these syndromes and get our health back on track.