facebookpixel

Exercises to Fix iHunch

With all great things, there is always an equal and opposite, and with improved technology and greater availability, we now have a new syndrome. The iHunch.

Luckily for you, we know the best exercise to straighten your hunch out.

Just like Yin and Yang, most things follow Newton’s third law, where is always and equal and opposite force.

Now that we have such easy availability of technology, we can easily spend most of our days looking at screens. Whether this is laptops, desktops, tablets, phones or watches, we are forever looking down.

iHunch exercises to fixLooking Down is THE Big Issue.

Most of our heads are around 6kg.

As our shoulders hunch and our head protrudes forward, the load on our neck increases a huge amount as you can see in the picture here

Over time, our body adapts to this posture and our upper back stiffens and loses extension.

Our pecs tighten and pull the shoulders forward and the muscles in our upper neck cramp up.

This then causes pain and can really put you in a bad mood.(1)

Exercises to Relieve iHunch

Here is how you can sort iHunch at home. Stretch out that hunch and maybe even make yourself taller!

1. Thoracic Extension Stretch

Stretch out you upper back over a Foam Roller or stretch ball. The foam roller can either be across your back or up your spine for a more gentle approach.

Hold the stretch for at least one minute and then move higher, making sure not to put the roller or ball under your low back or neck.

You can also wrap your arms around your chest and roll up and down to massage the muscles

improve your thoracic mobility quick and easy

back stretch thoracic ihunch

2. Pec Stretch

Using a doorway, place your forearm against the frame and gently lean forward. Hold the stretch for at least 30 seconds each side

Pec stretch

3. Wall Angels

This is one of the best exercises for improving postural strength as if fires up all of your shoulder and spine extensor muscles

Make sure your bum, upper back and head are touching the wall, as well as your knuckles and elbow to start (a).

Then slide your arms up and down as far as you can without your elbow or hand coming off the wall. You will feel a good burn between your shoulder blades.

Repeat for 3 sets of 15 reps

YouTube player

wall angels, shoulder pain

The only other thing you can do to help prevent iHunch is to stop looking down so much! Hold your phone up in front of you, get a stand-up desk and walk more.

And that’s it. Mobilize the spine, stretch the pecs and strengthen your extensors and you will feel much better for it.

2 thoughts on “Exercises to Fix iHunch”

  1. All good, guys – it’s a good general cover of how to counter the iHunch. As a physio myself I’m pleased to see information about it getting out there – it’s an enormous problem.

    But since you lifted the neck loading diagram off our website I do think you could also have mentioned the Backpod. This is the spinal fulcrum we developed in New Zealand to stretch out a tightened, hunched thoracic spine.

    There are others, but the Backpod is the only one that will also do an effective stretch on the tightened posterior rib joints, which are part of the problem. Have a look at the Backpod’s website http://www.backpod.co.nz for an specific analysis and home program to counter each component of the iHunch.

    Cheers, Steve August (B.A.,Dp.Physio.).

    1. PhysioPrescription

      Hi Steve, thanks a lot for posting the link and sorry about the oversight.

leave a comment...

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Get 25% OFF all Rehab Guides for a limited time (use code: TAKE25)

X