Correcting Upper Cross Syndrome

Upper Cross Syndrome Part II

In Part I, we talked about what Upper Cross Syndrome (UCS) is and what causes it. Now, we’ll get into how clinicians diagnose UCS and the best options for treating it.

Diagnosing Upper Cross Syndrome

If you’re experiencing pain or tightness in your neck, back, and shoulders, a chiropractor or physician can diagnose your condition. If you get a diagnosis of UCS, it’s best to treat it conservatively as possible.

At Square ONE your chiropractor or medical provider will conduct a thorough exam including:

• Health history
• Orthopedic evaluation
• Neurological evaluation
• Range of motion evaluation
• Chiropractic joint evaluation
• X-ray analysis (initial and follow-up)
• Digital posture analysis with the report (pre- and post-treatment)
• Leg length screening

UCS is a treatable condition that’s generally responsive to some combination of chiropractic care, physical therapy, and exercise.

Treating Upper Cross Syndrome

At Square ONE we take a team approach to your treatment.  A treatment approach for UCS will typically involve:

• Stretches to lengthen muscles that have become short and tight.
• Exercises to increase muscle strength and endurance in muscles that have become weak.
• Neuromuscular reeducation to retrain your nerves and muscle to work together to maintain normal posture.
• Chiropractic adjustments to restore motion into joints that have become restricted and have loss normal motion.
• Mirror image traction which helps stretch ligaments and deep connective tissue to restore normal spinal alignment.
• Trigger point injections delivered by a medical professional to breakup painful muscular trigger point and adhesions.
• Home exercises and traction.

Everyone’s body is different. True recovery from UCS requires a holistic, personalized approach to your treatment which includes preliminary treatment and maintenance. Your treatment provider may recommend changes in the following areas:

• Dietary changes
• Weight loss recommendations
• Ergonomic changes at home, work, or while driving.

A chiropractor that’s trained and licensed in Chiropractic BioPhysics (CBP®) can take your treatment plan to the next level beyond promote pain relief to truly correcting the underlying structural problems.

What Is CBP®?

Your Fort Collins chiropractor has many years of post-graduate education in spine biomechanics and spinal alignment techniques so that you can benefit from improved posture and enhanced body functions.

CBP® is a highly advanced chiropractic technique with roots in the following sciences:

• Anatomy
• Biology
• Physiology
• Physics
• Geometry

The goal of CBP® is to identify the root cause of pain and loss of mobility and ultimately, restore your spinal alignment to a more natural state.

What Can I Expect from CBP®?

With CBP®, you can expect some relief as soon as your first appointment. Over time, you can expect to have further pain reduction and get back on the path to resuming normal activities once again.

Initially, your chiropractor in Fort Collins will verify the source of your pain and develop a customized rehabilitation program that’s comprised of some combination of spinal adjustments, spinal rehab, stretching and strengthening exercises, and traction. The first few appointments will focus heavily on providing you with much-needed pain relief. The next phase of your treatment will focus on continued rehabilitation. These treatments work together to address the root cause of UCS, which involves aligning your posture and spine.

You can also expect to learn more about how various bodily systems support each other and how you can leverage that information to effectively retrain your posture. You’ll learn about the role that gravity plays in your posture while standing, sitting, and walking.

Most importantly, you don’t have to live with chronic back or neck pain. A personalized treatment plan will help you maintain good spinal health so you can go about your daily activities without pain and without worry over doing long-term damage to your spine, which is a core part of your body’s support system.