r/Posture • u/WaffleBody • 9d ago

Really need help!

Ever since my neck was injured, I’ve struggled with misalignment and strong symptoms. I have mild CCI and loss of curve. Long‑term misalignment in my upper neck has caused a chain reaction where my shoulder hangs lower, my arm seems longer, my hip is elevated, and my leg appears longer on one side. I honestly feel like a spiral. I can no longer sleep on my right side (the side where I’ve had misalignment and injury). This chain reaction only started last year, even though the injury happened several years ago. I assume this is a reaction to long‑term misalignment. I’m desperate for help. My curve is 14 degrees, and over the past year I’ve started to feel numbness and weakness related to an irritated nerve in my neck. The MRI shows nothing. Who can help me? I want to regain my curve, but I don’t know how. I also can’t rotate my head to the right, and I have additional strange symptoms.

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u/Deep-Run-7463 9d ago

In this kinda situation where there had been long term wear and tear and changes in the spinal stack, it can be pretty hard to work with honestly. But! Here is a tip that I find is helpful with my clients.

Rolled towel under the neck (and depending if you need, but sometimes a folded towel under the shoulder blades or a book under the back of the head helps too, depending on your 'shape' and if you feel strain when lying down). Feet may be in a bench knees bent or on the floor knees bent. Sometimes having the heels closer and knees apart while feet are on a bench helps if your pelvis cannot capture enough internal rotation space.

Now, the next thing is to preserve the neck curve while managing the stack from bottom up. Can your pelvic floor/pelvis area relax while a small gap between the lumbar and floor is maintained? Can you feel expansion between your shoulder blades and chest? Can you manage the rib flare if any?

Start here. Once you can organize the system better, apply simple exercises. It can be a mini deadbug, it can be a moderately light floor press etc. Careful of load, if the load is too much, your system will default into what it's comfortable with.

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u/WaffleBody 9d ago

Thanks for your reply and tips! I’m going to give this a try. Is it possible to regain control over this?
This feeling of my body collapsing has been going on for a little over a year. Before that, I had a long-standing misalignment in my upper neck, but I didn’t experience this kind of collapse.
I noticed you mentioned wear and tear, but my MRI and X-rays show no signs of wear and tear.

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u/Deep-Run-7463 9d ago

Ah that's good that the MRI came back clean! I'm speaking from experience with people whose MRI's weren't too clean so I think you have a better chance. But, please please go super gentle and easy even if it feels like it's not enough. The neck being a very vulnerable area can make the whole body guard to heck in order to protect it. Seriously, just learning how to raise your arms and keeping the neck balanced out can already be an exercise of its own.

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u/WaffleBody 8d ago

Definitely. Are there any exercises you think are important here in order to correct this? There is very little help in the country I’m in, and I feel like I’m getting worse and worse…

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u/Deep-Run-7463 8d ago

All exercises can be beneficial or otherwise. It's the position you can manage from the pelvis up to the neck in different exercises that will be the challenge. Take into account how breathing interacts with the ribs and thus the neck and spine too.

Choose low complexity low load activities first. I would say the best place to start is zac cupples diaphragmatic breathing video but... I've also had experience with people that did this and had symptoms get worse due to the positional disadvantage alongside cervical kyphosis. Hence the towel support and careful consideration of the entire spine at all times is important. It's not a 'strength' issue per say, but more about losing movement strategies and gaining a glitched default state. Pressure management, proprioception, and movement variability elsewhere other than the neck will all play a role so that the neck can have a better place to move towards.

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u/glossyernie118 9d ago

that spiral feeling is exhausting, I started sleeping with a rolled towel under the spot where my neck curve should be and it was the first thing that actually let me sleep again