[featured-video-plus width=770]

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• What Upper Crossed Syndrome is
• Steps to treat UCS
• About Eric Finger’s Concierge Physical Therapy service

Today on Apple a Day Doc Talk, Dr. Khris Ramdeen is joined by his friend Eric Finger to talk about Upper Crossed Syndrome (UCS). Finger, MPT, OCS, FAAOMPT, is the founder of Move Empower Concierge Physical Therapy.

UCS is a common postural abnormality. Engaging in activities like reading, using a computer, laptop or cell phone for extended periods of time can cause people to start holding their heads in a forward position which makes the shoulders slump. This leads to uneven muscle development and timing. Common symptoms of UCS are neck, shoulder, jaw, and upper back pain.

If you’re experiencing symptoms of UCS or think you might have it, it is most important that you see a primary care doctor or physical therapist in order to get a proper diagnosis. Though he admits he might be a little biased, Finger recommends seeing and working with a physical therapist since they are musculoskeletal experts and can develop an exercise regime tailored to you.

Listen to this third installment of Apple a Day Doc Talk to hear more about UCS and how Finger and Dr. Ramdeen recommend treating it. If you like what you hear, share it with a friend or maybe a coworker! You can find more Apple a Day Doc Talk here!

 

Apple a Day Doc Talk is a Founding Media podcast created in partnership with Dr. Khris Ramdeen.

Host: Dr. Khris Ramdeen

Guests: Eric Finger, Move Empower Concierge Physical Therapy

Transcript:

this is a founding media podcast

welcome to the apple in the dock talk podcast a show that combines concepts of fitness with medicine to focus on primary prevention and disease management I’m your host Dr. Khris Ramdeen this week we are starting our series around postural abnormalities I sat down to talk with physical therapist Erica finger to discuss what these abnormalities look like what can be done to prevent them so what do you do when you have them up first we’re digging into upper crossed syndrome

we have here today Eric Finger he’s a physical therapist and he has started a company’s entrepreneur it’s called move in power concierge PT we’re gonna be talking about upper crossed syndrome today how are you doing here doing well doing well thanks for having me on today appreciate it thank you for coming I I just want to tell the audience here a little bit about you Eric’s actually midwesterner begin as formal his I. education at the University of Kansas he was a member of the varsity swim team and earned a bachelor of science in exercise science he then completed his graduate training at Texas Tech University health sciences center in two thousand two and after that after he graduated he went to pursue a pretty significant post-graduate continuing education regiment he became an A. P. T. A, a board certified orthopedic specialist and a fellow of the American academy of orthopedic manual physical therapy this is really cool because it’s a distinction that less than ten percent a physical therapist in the in the entire United States have a obtained so he’s the perfect guest talk about some of these postural issues is that we want you to be aware of we will you be able to recognize we want you to be able to avoid certain things because as you know guys I’m an internal medicine doctor in my first and foremost goal for you is safety I want you guys to say six to stay safe and that’ll always be the theme of the way that it can approach education here

so Eric let’s start with the right in the top and just talk about what it is what is upper crossed syndrome yeah yeah yeah syndrome is a situation where folks adopt a dysfunctional posture it’s simply have an imbalance between the the muscles in the front of the body the chest or in the or in the NAC and the muscles in the in the back the mid back and of the neck so usually these guys in a healthy spine or in in nice and symmetry and what you get is an asymmetry going on hand one side takes over and problems start right you get that that forward looking head the shoulders are kind of rounded towards the interior the front and because of this because of this postural abnormalities you mentioned what are some of the typical sin said the symptoms that you see whatever crisis right so as you mentioned you’re getting your as that head starts to pooch Ford what we noticed on the back as they’re shortening in those muscles and those muscles connect to the bottom of the head and that’s typically where you can find a lot of folks suffering with headaches and he said it’s going to start the back of the head and can come all the way over into the front jaw pain is very can can happen is very common and with those headaches and then also most obviously would be that just lower neck pain and and kind of spasm anger trigger what we call trigger points burning pain in the mid back muscles so it’s not fun and great the the percentage of people who I see with this is is quite high and is and it takes a particularly see it a lot with folks who are are sitting the majority of the day

yeah I actually work out with Eric we we go to the same gym them quite often and you actually see this quite a bit it’s very very common and one of the main points I want to get across it is this is a very common cause of neck pain yeah yeah yeah and I think that you eat in your exactly right you see it at the gym and typically the gym we see fit right so I think I’ve you guys need to take that back it’s not just sedentary folks we see this we see this with our athletes as well anyone who’s like swimmers yeah for instance anyone who’s doing a lot of who’s the the exercises really dominated in the front powerlifters in right license pressing the exact relinquishing out in front of exactly right so it’s not just something for you know the sedentary folks you see this and and folks who are fairly fit as well right and you mentioned you know job pain headaches is a is a one of the common symptoms of having upper crossed syndrome problems and you can even have problems with biceps tendinitis the tenant of the biceps just because of the way that your shoulders a remote rotated definitely yeah so with that the postural alignment we’re gonna see the shoulder the the shoulder where it where it’s sitting is is is not gonna be in the in the right position I can start in pressure on some of the sensitive tissues where it sets and can can like you said kind of light up to a lot of the structures in there as you mention the biceps tendon right parts of the rotator cuff rotator cuff for kind of the four muscles that help can keep the shoulder where it needs to set verses bursitis and all those kind of key words we think of when we think of shoulder pain right so like you said rotator cuff impingement is another problem where if you’ve ever diagnosed with that it’s really important to look at your posture and its definitely correctable the actual root causes probably this it yeah I mean in the majority of the folks who I’m seeing are gonna have a possible component for sure with that with a shoulder impingement it’s it’s it’s yeah it’s very likely right so just wanted some up there if you have this it’s you know not just a postural aesthetic type thing you know you can get headaches you can get biceps tendinitis rotator cuff impingement if you ever diagnosed with these or think you might have them and we just want you to be aware that this isn’t a thing that you can work on

yeah yeah and how do you work and how long does it take to try to get someone to start to build the right muscles in the right place yeah that’s right now that’s a good question so I it’s a lot of it’s depended on part of it is is getting in and and I think number one getting checked out either going in and seeing your physician my bias of course is going to be seeing a physical therapist because that’s essentially what we do, we’re kind of musculoskeletal specialists and such but the thing is is is it’s a two part thing it’s it’s getting and having assessment done getting on like an exercise program but also there’s some behavior changes to making sure you know what like folks are sitting all day that their desk is set up appropriately kinda adjusting what your work environment to you instead of you adjusting to your work environment I think that’s quite huge because a lot of these things can be alleviated by even simply make sure your monitors high enough reckon sure your your chair is appropriate for you and such let it so if you can get you start some exercises make some changes S. you’ll see some adding some really pretty darn quick excellent excellent and who are typically the types of patients that you get that suffer from the syndrome who’s likely to get it

yeah yeah I see a lot of folks being in Austin Texas in the tech tech central I see a ton of folks who are the tech folk who are sitting at a desk maybe sitting in a lot right up creatives anyone whose whose activities are biased to in front of their body right because that’s what gets us in trouble and if if you’re doing if you’re sitting I just also a stat the other day the average Americans now sitting seven point seven hours per day I think that’s quite a bit so we’ve got to we’ve got to if you have a job where you are sitting a lot you’ve got to make sure that you’re you know you’re adding make sure you’re adding fitness in the appropriate exercises to kind of combat the rigors of you know extended periods of sitting absolutely absolutely and what type of activities

do you find that you know when you when your patients come to you is there anything besides you know like typing on a keyboard looking at a computer screen basically hunched over like that any other activities that you find promote this or set them up for it sure yeah so let’s go back to your you’re talking about the folks at the gym and such so maybe our folks who are working out our athletes who tend to dominate one side training one side of my body and out the other we talked at the beginning that this issue is kind of an asymmetry issue you’re right and we’ve got to and that comes to maybe training one side more than the other for instance someone doing a chest press maybe too you know several times a week in right and not counter balancing that with training that the mid back and postural muscles that’s those are folks who I see who maybe aren’t getting enough balance in there exercise regimen absolutely so and that’s really common that’s that’s a pretty you know common thing to see especially amongst people who are just starting out in the gym sure doing a lot of movements that they’re pushing out in front of them with the cables are push ups or chest presses or you know there isn’t there’s more of that than there is rear delt exercises right you know back flights and things like that right training the pretty muscles actually hitting that the stabilizers so yeah you’re exactly right so adding that that balance is so key and I’ll set you up number one is going to set you up nonlife feeling better but just your your your performance is gonna be better to the body is only gonna perform when it’s simply in balance so posture isn’t just more it’s not just the statics is actually performance as well and then when these are these the fitness crowd

now the patients that you take care of when they go to the gym and they want to train and they want to train hard and go for that aesthetic look that you’re talking about the nice interior shoulders and chest and what do you do you tell them about any particular exercises that they should avoid in the gym or any particular movements that they should stay away from her yeah you know the folks who are serving with after crossing from typically have that pain in the front of the shoulder in particular is sometimes with exercises that are overhead or or an album from the body so if that’s the case that’s kind of it tell telling sign to back off there and work on exercise is more on the on the better placing you that train the the back muscles but also it’s pretty good time to maybe seek advice from a health care professional to to kind of make sure that you’re not gonna accurate because if you continually have activating or aggravating those that the tissues in front it can yes it can it can set you back right and

can you talk a little bit about why you’d want to avoid like straight up overhead exercise like maybe shoulder presses for example with dumbbells why why that would be problematic well the the the dumbbell that overhead press the speak of to someone who with this upper crossed syndrome who’s who’s having sensitivity to overhead movements or or or or moving sound from the body this can close down the breathing space will say that the room in the shoulder if you will yeah so if you’ve got you know poor poor positioning of the joint you gotta remember that you’ve got to shoes that are in between those two bones in there and and that plays into that impingement and that overhead press can really close down and start a pinching on some of those sensitive tissues and such a right and and there’s

when you have this abnormal anatomy you do have decreased shoulder rotation said you can’t you’re not really externally rotating as you should in order to free up that space you’re talking about to do sure sure yeah your mechanic so you yeah yeah some therapy exactly you’re right your your your mechanics are a little off so the the the the the the tissues are going to be stranger asked to do more than they they need to and you do that enough and you you know you poke the bear enough it’ll start talking to you yeah that rotator cuff impingement exactly Rask outlet syndrome sure sure yeah robin that you have with this and

if let’s say yep so what did something as simple as look in the mirror or soft picture and they saw their you know had pushed forward shoulders kinda shrug shoulders forward and they thought they might have this you know who where they go who they reach out to they consult with with with recommend sure sure sure I think that if you’re if you’re seen that it in the mirror someone a lot of folks always tell me how someone so you know my husband or my wife your partner whoever is on you you know Custer had really back forty really rounded those those folks I’d say you know if you’re having shoulder pain if you have if you’re having you know that someone brought this to your awareness and you’re having shoulder pain I think it’s a good idea to to reach out to your your your family doctor to start with and then also even consult with a physical therapist again I mean that’s my bias just because this that’s exactly what we we look at all the hard all darn day that that’s a really good point you know we in internal medicine family practitioners we’re we’re going to diagnose it right we’re gonna recognize the abnormal posture in the informal anatomy but there’s no way we can continually strengthen those muscles put them through rigorous regimen this to slowly correct that right the physical therapist this E. yeah yeah yeah so yeah I think starting either of those directions is a good place to do it and it’s it’s and even just from a from a physical therapist from a consultation point of view that’s kind of where I started kind of find out what’s going on yeah and find out of you know is as a physical therapist or with the right person for you at that time and if not directing you to that would be right right and and just want to say to that I work with Eric in tight we take care of mutual patients and he’s actually a mobile physical therapist which is really cool that’s right we’ll go to your house to go to your work email bills yeah yeah wherever you want and limit your travel just makes your your barrier terror a little bit lower right you’re less likely to cancel an appointment because you don’t want to go drive somewhere in here spend a couple hours of your day doing that yeah

but just want to say again to Eric is entrepreneur he has started a company called move empower concierge PT and I just want thank you again thank you so much for talking about this such an important topic it is it is more awareness yeah my pleasure rather than just yelling at someone to stand up straight right police whose employers is much more work that goes into the air but I like to think founding media for hostess hosting us and thanks so much for tuning in we’ll see you next time thank you Eric I appreciate your time if you would like to learn more about Eric and his services we put a link in the show notes the ability doc talk podcast team includes me doctor Randy producer Mariah gossip in audio engineer Jake Wallace thank you everyone if down the media for your support the apple at a dock talk is available wherever you get your podcasts so maybe share with a friend or a loved one this week we appreciate it you can follow me on Instagram at rain D. N. M. D. spelled R. A. M. D. E. N. M. D. or check out the link to my YouTube channel and website in the show notes thanks for listening