Upper Cross Syndrome

What is Upper Cross Syndrome?

Upper cross syndrome refers to the imbalance of muscle strength of the front and back sides of the body caused by long-time work on the desk or excessive exercise of the chest muscles, which leads to round shoulders, hunched backs and poking chins.

Generally, the symptoms include neck and shoulder muscle soreness, arms numbness, and poor breathing.

If the syndrome cannot be corrected in time, it can lead to body deformation, affecting the quality of life and self-confidence in some severe cases.

How to solve the upper crossing syndrome?

Simply, the upper cross syndrome is due to excessive tension of the front muscle groups and excessive passive stretching of the back muscle groups, so the treatment principle is stretching the tensioned muscle groups while strengthening the weak ones.

Sports training

Handling over-stressed muscles – including stretching and relaxing the pectoral muscle, the superior trapezius bundle, the sternocleidomastoid muscle, the levator scapulae muscle, the trapezius muscle, and the latissimus dorsi muscle.

Strengthen the weak muscle groups – including strengthening the rotator cuff external rotation muscle group, rhomboid muscle, trapezius muscle inferior bundle and anterior serratus muscle.

Suggestions on Improving Upper Cross Syndrome

1. Develop the habit of maintaining good sitting posture and maintain normal physiological bending of cervical spine. At the same time, try to reduce the working hours at desk and relax hourly.

2. Apply sports training and especially resistance training to the middle and lower bundle of trapezius muscle, rhomboid muscle, and deep cervical flexor muscle.

3. Appropriate rest and relaxation. Pay attention to regular PNF stretching of the excessively tensive upper trapezius muscle, levator scapula, and pe