If your neck loses its curve, it can affect thepostureof your whole body.
This article explains why your neck and spine curve.
What Is Military Neck?
Illustration by Nusha Ashjaee for Verywell Health
It curves more toward the front than it should.
This can stretch yourparaspinal muscles, which help you lean, bend, and twist your back.
It can also affect yoursuboccipitalmuscles, which help you turn your neck.
Other muscles might be overstretched.
Two of the curves, called kyphotic curves, go backwards.
The other two develop as you learn to pick up your head and walk.
They sweep forward and are calledlordoticcurves.
Reversed neck curve moves in the opposite of its natural direction.
“Military neck” may make you think this condition only (or primarily) occurs in service personnel.
That’s not the case.
This is when the upper back is unusually flat.
This condition can compress the spine and cause the bones to be worn away.
In severe cases, military neck can lead to paralysis, or the loss of your ability to move.
It can also cause you to lose control of your bladder and bowel movements.
Risk of Injury
Military neck can often place too much stress on thenuchal ligament.
That’s the ligament that limits how far forward you might tilt your head.
If you have military neck, you may be more likely to have an injury.
When you’re free to’t move as freely, your spine can’t absorb shocks as well.
Spine Damage
Sometimes military neck can even injure the spinal cord itself.
In some cases, the neck muscles do not hold up your head properly.
Your chin tips down to your chest.
This condition is sometimes called dropped head syndrome because of the forward slump of your head.
When your head drops forward, it’s not easy to see straight ahead.
Imaging, such as anX-rayorcomputed tomography(CT) scan, may be done to confirm the diagnosis.
Cervical Kyphosis Treatment
Military neck can often be treated successfully using a range of options.
One exercise that’s often prescribed is thecervical retraction exercise.
It involves gently tucking your chin down and pulling your neck back in a diagonal movement.
It should feel as though you’re stretching your neck toward the ceiling in back of you.
Traction
A physical therapist or other healthcare provider can also treat your neck with traction.
That can take pressure off the nerves, too.
They may also want to prescribeanti-inflammatory drugsto treat underlying causes.
Steroid treatment also may be a pain relief option.
Another option might be to remove a small section of bone in your neck (osteotomy).
Massage
Massage therapy won’t cure military neck.
Studies have shown, however, that it can bring you some short-term relief from neck pain.
Thus, it might be a good add-on therapy while you’re taking steps to handle the problem.
Can a Chiropractor Fix Cervical Kyphosis?
Summary
The curve in your neck is normal and naturally moves forward.
But if you’re injured or your neck is not aligned properly, that natural curve can flatten out.
In some cases, it can even curve in the opposite direction.
If your neck stays that way, it’s known as flat neck syndrome or military neck.
It can lead to overstretched muscles and ligaments along the whole length of your back and neck.
Cervical kyphosis can also cause your spine to become compressed, which can wear away parts of your spine.
In severe cases, military neck can damage your spine.
Military neck doesn’t always hurt.
Physical therapy, traction, massage, medication, and surgery are options to help correct the curve.
2021;7(3):422-433. doi:10.21037/jss-21-54
University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC).Cervical Kyphosis.
The Stockholm Neck (STONE) randomized controlled trial.Musculoskelet Sci Pract.
2020;45:102070. doi:10.1016/j.msksp.2019.102070.
Philadelphia, PA. 2002.
2005;28(3):187-193. doi:10.1016/j.jmpt.2005.02.015
