Severe Forward Head Posture Palliative Care - December 2021 Case 1
This patient’s chief complaint was her posture recently collapsed and as a result, she could not rotate her head right to left in the axial plane due to severe stiffness. She stated her posture worsened dramatically during home confinement due to the COVID pandemic. Her severe FHP and associated rigid musculature along the neck and shoulders will serve as our marker for future improvement measurements.
Her examination was obviously limited. Initial pictures of the patients posture both photo and X-ray give us a starting point to treat these palliative cases. We know from understanding of spinal bio-physics that if we can improve her FHP in any degree it should help her.
This patient started care on 10/29/21. She was immediately fitted with a Cervigard collar and taught how to sit in a reclined position to allow her head to retract in the negative z direction. She will use the collar daily for 20 minutes. We try to get the ears over the shoulders as a goal. She was given home exercises to help in her posture correction. The patient lives in another state and travel time to our facility is two hours, so her office visit schedule is limited to once per week.
She received adjustments to her CO/C1 joint to begin correction of the head extension on her upper cervical spine. Instrument adjusting with dual prong was utilized in her thoracic spine.
Her examination was obviously limited. Initial pictures of the patients posture both photo and X-ray give us a starting point to treat these palliative cases. We know from understanding of spinal bio-physics that if we can improve her FHP in any degree it should help her.
This patient started care on 10/29/21. She was immediately fitted with a Cervigard collar and taught how to sit in a reclined position to allow her head to retract in the negative z direction. She will use the collar daily for 20 minutes. We try to get the ears over the shoulders as a goal. She was given home exercises to help in her posture correction. The patient lives in another state and travel time to our facility is two hours, so her office visit schedule is limited to once per week.
She received adjustments to her CO/C1 joint to begin correction of the head extension on her upper cervical spine. Instrument adjusting with dual prong was utilized in her thoracic spine.
Initial x-ray and photo taken on 10/29/2021.
First follow-up photo taken on 11/19/2021 after wearing the Cervigard Collar for 3 weeks
Second follow-up photo taken on 12/1/2021 after wearing the Cervigard Collar for 5 weeks
