Have You Tried this Postural Correction Strategy for Neck Pain?

Posted August 2, 2016

“I feel like I have a ton of bricks pushing on my neck. It kills me at work,” said Johnny referring to his job as a bookkeeper for the largest corporation in town.

At week 9 of his complete postural correction treatment plan, Johnny began utilizing Posture Tape to assist in further structural posture correction, as well as for therapeutic relief of the lower cervical spine and bilateral trapezius muscles.

The Posture Tape was utilized in Johnny’s road to recovery as an ancillary modality for the correction of forward head posture and anterior shoulder displacement in addition to his postural correction treatments and posture rehabilitation protocols.

“I feel really good,” said Johnny immediately after the tape was applied to his neck and upper back. “I feel like the tape supports my neck and takes the pressure off my shoulders,” he said while moving his head in each direction and smiling. “Thanks doc, let’s try it.”

A week later Johnny came back to the American Posture Institute. At this point the Posture Tape had been removed, however it had lasted for 5 days before wearing off. Johnny said that he felt great, that he had no problem maintaining proper posture during work, and that he felt so much better at the end of the day. For Johnny, these subjective changes were what he had been searching for.

Johnny continued to utilize Posture Tape. At week 12 of his treatment plan, he had his second re-evaluation. On his second re-evaluation his pain had diminished to 1 out of 10, from an original pain rating of 7 out of 10. He also demonstrated continuous objective improvement with further reduction of forward head posture and anterior shoulder displacement.

With chronic pain patients such as Johnny, Posture Tape can be a good clinical option to include in their treatment plans. Posture Tape, when used correctly may have therapeutic benefits for your patients and help them maintain proper postural design.

A research study conducted by Yoo (2013) demonstrated that the utilization of Functional tape was effective in the reduction of forward head posture. In the study that Yoo (2013) performed, he concluded that the forward head posture angle significantly decreased for participants during computer work with neck retraction tape compared to workers who did not utilize tape.

In a study conducted by Saavedra-Hernandez, et al. (2012), it was concluded that Functional Taping is an effective treatment protocol for decreasing neck pain and disability in individuals presenting with mechanical neck pain.

As Johnny is a bookkeeper, he spends a lot of his day seated and working at a computer. His results of the utilization of Posture Tape are consistent with the results that Yoo (2013) found regarding desk workers, and with the results that Saavedra-Hernandez, et al. (2012) found regarding the relief of neck pain.

Is Posture Taping beneficial for your patients…?
Patients present with differing levels of pain, degeneration, and functional debilitation; they are not textbooks, each patient should be clinically analyzed as an individual case and should be treated within the guidelines of best clinical practices.

Posture Tape has been shown in the literature to be effective in treating certain conditions. Posture Experts should be clear of their clinical objectives when applying Posture Tape. Once the clinical objective is determined, the Posture Expert utilizes the appropriate tape tension to achieve that result.

When applying the Posture Tape for Johnny, a tape tension of 25% was utilized. Tape tension of 10%-50% is utilized to increase muscle tone by facilitating muscle firing and coordination. With up-regulated activity at the site of tape application, the body becomes more aware of the tissue, increasing proprioception.

The clinical objectives of this tape tension are to increase neural activity for improved proprioception and to increase muscle tone. This taping tension can be utilized for non-acute patients to improve postural presentation and performance.

This method of Posture Taping was effective in relieving his neck pain as well as contributing to objective correction of forward head posture. Posture Tape is highly effective for patients who are dealing with cervical postural distortions and chronic neck pain.

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