Military Neck

Military Neck - Most manipulative authors have had between good and great success restoring the lordotic curve in people whose military neck developed from injury or postural habit. All of these professionals concur that restoring the curve can be a long process if losing the curve was a long time coming.

Sudden injury-caused military neck is likely caused by muscle spasm or protective muscle guarding and can thus be resolved by first resolving the soft tissue aspects of the injury. Trauma can also cause military neck. Different types of injuries can cause the trauma, including a car accident, a fall, or a sports injury.

Military Neck

If the ligaments fracture or tear, the spine can curve forward and the spinal cavity might narrow. Military neck is an abnormal curve of the cervical spine that causes you to look like you’re “standing at attention.”

Can The Cervical Curve Be Restored?

The condition, called cervical kyphosis, doesn’t have anything to do with serving in the military. It can be caused by: Physical therapy, a neck brace, and mild pain medications are generally prescribed for treatment, unless the curve of the neck is pressing on the spinal cord, in which case the doctor will likely recommend surgery.

The most common surgery for cervical kyphosis is spinal fusion. This assumes, of course, that the spasm or guarding is not protecting the skeleton or central nervous system (CNS) from impending damage if muscles are relaxed.

Minor fractures in or injurious displacement of the vertebral bones can easily cause muscle guarding and relaxing those muscles could endanger the bones. The brain will do whatever it can to protect the bones and CNS.

A healthy neck has a “C” curve (lordosis) when you see it from the side and the curve rolls forward from the bottom of the cervical spine and curves back again halfway up to the head.

How Is Military Neck Treated?

There is approximately 30 to 40 degrees of curve in the healthy neck. Taking its name from the idea that military people stand perfectly straight and tall, “military neck” is a slang term for the loss of the “C” curve in the neck.

Military neck is also known as cervical kyphosis or straight neck. In rarer forms, a backwards curve develops in the neck. Removing the lamina creates more space for nerves, but it can also cause the facet joints between the vertebrae to be unstable.

This complication is seen most often in children who undergo the procedure, as opposed to adults. Iatrogenic disorder can also arise from an unsuccessful cervical spine fusion, in which the fusion is too short. A congenital disorder is one that occurs from birth, otherwise known as a birth defect.

Those whose cervical kyphosis is congenital usually have complications in other parts of the body as well, such as urinary or kidney defects. To diagnose military neck, the doctor will observe the person to see if there are visible signs of deformity or abnormality in their posture.

Congenital Disorder

They will also take a full medical history to determine the cause of the abnormal spine alignment. Congenital kyphosis. Some babies are born with disabilities or have unusual spine development. The spine might not be fully formed, or the bones might grow in a triangle shape.

When this happens, the bones aren't stacked correctly, which can cause the neck to curve forward. Cervical spondylosis. This condition is a type of arthritis of the neck. As your discs wear down with age, your bones begin to rub against each other and break down.

This causes the spine to collapse, your head to tilt forward, and your neck to curve. Degenerating discs can cause arthritis. Once spinal joints begin to break down and degenerate, other soft tissue in the joints become affected.

Inflammation can affect the spinal nerves and cause further shifting of neighboring vertebrae, forcing discs to bulge to one side. The inflammation affecting nerves may cause pain wherever the nerves go or compress them, reducing sensation in the arms, neck, and head.

Why Do I Need A Curved Neck?

Doctors call it peripheral or cervical neuropathy. The biggest problem seems to be the earlier onset of degeneration in spinal discs. Much like any slow degenerating process of organ systems, you probably won't see it coming for awhile.

For people who have a loss of neck curve from functional causes, degeneration and pain may not appear for several years. If you were born with a straight neck, on the other hand, you may not see problems stemming from loss of cervical lordosis until your older years when disc degeneration becomes part of the ordinary aging process.

The most common cause of military neck is poor posture, either when awake or when sleeping. Poor posture can result from staring at the computer, occupational conditions, or repetitive movements. However, the condition can develop from other factors as well, such as:

Cervical traction. Your doctor might use cervical traction, which is a method of applying counterforce to your neck. Cervical traction with a halo ring uses gravity to help move the spine and relieve pressure on the cord.

Problems Related To Military Neck

This is especially helpful for children who have severe cervical kyphosis and is usually done before surgery. Local Storage seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Local Storage in your browser.

Military neck, straight neck, or cervical kyphosis is a loss of curvature in the neck. There may be a functional or structural loss of curvature. Having a straight neck isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the structure of the neck tends to degenerate more quickly in people who have lost the natural neck curve.

Functional military neck is usually fixable with manual therapy. However, results tend to take longer in people who lost their curve a longer time ago. The main cause of functional loss of cervical lordosis is a traumatic shock to the cervical spine, usually whiplash.

In some people, straight neck is complicated by posture of the neck atop the thorax. The normal curve bends the cervical spine forward from the junction where the cervical spine meets the thoracic spine. In some people, the cervical spine continues straight upward.

What Causes Military Neck?

In others, the entire cervical spine leans forward from the junction, giving the “leaning tower of Pisa” appearance to the cervical portion of the spine. The degree to which the straight neck leans forward is where the complication appears.

Because the head is no longer in a direct line over the thorax, muscles in the back of the neck and upper back must strain in order to pull the entire cervical and cranial structure back, like guy-wires (see Upper Crossed Syndrome elsewhere on this website).

Physical therapy, which is prescribed either as a standalone treatment or after surgery, may include specific neck exercises to strengthen the muscles, such as cervical lateral flexion, cervical flexion and extension, and cervical rotation. The physical therapist may also perform neck traction, in which the neck is slightly extended.

Iatrogenic kyphosis. This type of neck problem is caused by medical procedures. Laminectomy surgery is the most common cause. This is a surgery in which part of the vertebrae bone is removed to ease pressure on your spinal cord.

What Is The Outlook For Military Neck?

Normally your neck has a slight backward C bend. If you have military neck, also called cervical kyphosis, your neck has lost some of its normal curvature. This makes your neck abnormally straight, which can cause your head to tilt forward.

When military neck is a result of a congenital disorder, such as the spine not forming completely, the spine grows abnormally and the vertebrae create a triangle shape as they grow. This places an unnatural curve on the neck and stacked vertebrae.

While many conventional medical doctors may be forwardthinkers and refer military neck patients to a manipulative doctor or therapist, most will more likely get x-rays to make sure there is no evidence of structural damage, then prescribe NSAIDs (or stronger drugs) and muscle relaxers .

They go with what they know — addressing the symptoms, not the cause. The compression might cause the body of the vertebrae to heal in the shape of a wedge, creating an imbalance. In serious cases, you might experience neurological problems from the narrowing of the spinal canal, called spinal stenosis.

Compressed pressure can cause numbness, pain, and muscle weakness. The overall outlook for those with military neck is quite good. People usually respond well to physical therapy, lifestyle changes, and surgery when needed. After surgery, people are generally able to resume normal activities upon recovery, though they may need to wear a brace for up to three months.

Clinical trials are currently being conducted to improve surgical fusion, in an attempt to make the procedure and recovery even more efficient. Degenerative disc disease. In degenerative disc disease, the discs in your spine wear down over time.

This causes them to collapse and get thinner. As that happens, your head tilts forward and your neck curves forward or straightens. Surgery. Surgery is the main treatment, but it is usually only performed if your neck is getting worse.

Your doctor might add a metal plate and rods to give your neck stability or might fuse your bones together.

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