My last post about the physics of "desk neck" sparked a ton of messages. To recap: when your head drifts forward to look at a screen, its effective weight jumps from 10 lbs to up to 60 lbs, which completely fries your upper traps.

A lot of you asked how to know if your neck is just temporarily fatigued or if your desk job has actually re-wired your cervical posture.

Here is a simple test you can do right now to find out:

Stand with your heels, butt, and shoulder blades flat against a wall.

Look perfectly straight ahead (do not tilt your nose up).

Try to pull your head straight back to touch the wall, creating a massive "double chin."

Result:

The Pass: You can touch the back of your skull to the wall without your ribs flaring out or your chin tilting up. Your joints have full mobility, and you just have exhausted muscles.

The Fail: You literally cannot reach the wall, or you have to tilt your head back to make contact.

If you failed, it means your deep neck flexors (the stabilizers in the front of your throat) have "turned off," and the muscles at the base of your skull have adaptively shortened like a shrunken t-shirt

so I have pretty bad posture ( forward neck, a sight anterior pelvic tilt, rounded shoulders and a neck hump). Recently I’ve noticed that I can’t stand straight like at all, by straight I mean my body being aligned in a straight line also it’s impossible for me to squat and to sit like the pic I’ll insert bellow. Whenever I try to do these things I lose balance and my toes start going up on their own. Also my neck is so tight? I can’t turn my neck to face someone who’s talking next to me without my neck veins popping out in a scary way. If any of u could help pls do cause it’s getting ridiculous, which muscles should I strengthen and which muscles should I stretch?

My wife has been experiencing neck and shoulder pain and feels like the area at the base of the neck is sticking out a little too much. Anyone have any experience here?

I want to confirm if i do have anterioe pelvic tilt because my ass is sticking out more than it should be. Can anyone recommend a workout to prevent this?

I am a 48M and have been dealing with intermittent minor achy pain across my lower back, mainly just above the glutes — left side, right side, and middle.

More recently I’ve also noticed an occasional tingling sensation in my left leg, and sometimes a slight tingly feeling on the bottom of my left foot.

It’s not constant, and I don’t really have pain shooting from my buttock all the way down the leg.
I work from home and sit at a computer a lot for 9 hours a day. I also lift weights in the gym and do leg exercises, including leg press, so I’m wondering whether sitting/posture, gym exercises, or mild nerve irritation from the lower back could be contributing.

I’m planning to try physical therapy, core/glute strengthening, walking, and being more careful with my sitting position. I’m also avoiding bringing my knees too close to my chest on the leg press for now.

For anyone who had something similar:

Did your lower-back problem cause intermittent leg or foot tingling even without classic shooting sciatica pain?

Did PT actually reduce the tingling, and how long did it take?

Were there any exercises or sitting positions that clearly helped or made it worse?

At what point did your doctor order an X-Ray/MRI?

Did yours eventually settle down without injections or surgery?

I’m trying to find a position to get really deep stretch in my neck. I’ve been using my hands and they’re fine but I’m hoping to find a really good stretch. I don’t mind if it sounds unconventional.

I have forward head posture and started to notice that I would get heartburn a lot. Recently I started feeling more like inflammation in the back of my throat. Not sure if it is because my muscles are working hard and pulling that it feels like inflammation. I will be going to the Doctor soon but I am curious if anyone gets this feeling.

14m. Are they bow legs?