The Systematic Study of Cervical Curvature in Forward Head Posture (FHP)

In order to study the cervical curvature in forward head posture compared to healthy people, 300 students of Razi University (150 males and 150 females) were randomly selected. They were evaluated and screened by the use of PPV (Posture Pro V) software. Finally 14 students with forward head posture (with 23±2.32 years old and 163±4.6 cm height) and 14 healthy students without forward head posture (with 22.8±2.35 years old and 171.64±6.8 cm height) were selected who with great satisfaction participated in other phases of the research. In this descriptive study of cervical curvature, cervical spines were radiographed from lateral view and then evaluated for anterior head transition (AHT), cervical lordosis (C2-C7), and superior cervical curvature (C1-C2) were meticulously evaluated. Mean differences of healthy and FHP subject’s variables were analyzed with independent t-test. For analyzing the relationships between variables, Pearson’s coefficient of correlation was used at p<0.05. The results showed that: 1. there are significant differences between cervical lordosis, anterior head transition, and amounts of overload on cervical spines among two groups, but the differences of superior cervical curvature’s amount are not significant. 2. FHP has a significant relationship with AHT and cervical lordosis. A significant relationship also exists between AHT and amounts of overload on cervical spines, but FHP and cervical curvatures were not significantly related. There also exists a weak relationship between cervical curvatures and lordosis which is not significant. The results revealed that FHP causes cervical kyphosis and an extreme forward head position may cause an S-form curvature which is due to decreasing inferior cervical spine curvature and increasing superior cervical spine curvature. In this situation, in fact, inferior muscles of neck’s anterior are shortened and the superior portion of muscles is stretched. On the other hand, posterior inferior muscles of neck are stretched and in the extreme cases, superior muscles of neck are shortened. With this in mind, it can be declared that the forward head posture can cause a decrease in normal lordosis and occurrence of cervical kyphosis.