Best Home Test & FIX for Hunch Back (Neck Hump)
- chelsie462
- Oct 2
- 10 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in August 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/XysNNay_uX8
Brad: Have you ever spent time people watching and observing their posture? And you might see some people with that head-forward, hunched back posture, and you kind of feel bad for them. But the big question is, maybe you're one of those people.
Mike: So in this video, we're going to show you how to self-assess if you have a hunched back posture and how to correct it.
Brad: That's right. Let's get to it.
Mike: Well, what are we talking about today, Brad?
Brad: We're talking about neck hump and that slump posture. And I'm going to show you, as we mentioned, a way to self-assess all by yourself. It's very simple, all you need is yourself and a wall. So put yourself in your normal posture and simply walk, not too fast, but slowly, with good control, towards the wall. Now, if your head hits the wall first, you know you have at least a slight head forward posture, maybe more.
Brad: Because if I go into the wall and I straighten myself up, good posture, watch what happens here. My chest hits the wall first. Then you know you have good posture.
Brad: So if you hit your head first, you get a bump, you turn around immediately, put your butt to the wall, your shoulder blades to the wall, and this is going to assess if you can get good, perfect posture without stretching. So we're going to bring our butt to the wall, our shoulders to the wall, and the back of the head will touch with the chin tucked in.
Brad: I can do it, but it might be, if you've been slouched for years, you might be all contracted, muscles tightened up, and you won't be able to get your head to touch the wall with your chin tucked in. You're going to have to go like that. Then you're going to work on the stretches. We're going to go through a complete set, and you can get back to good posture in just a matter of time.
Mike: Before that, how many fingers am I holding? I feel like you're concussed now.
Brad: Yeah, four.
Mike: Oh, okay, perfect.
Brad: Alright. Okay, now, one of the things that works well to make sure you have good posture is you can take a stick, we're using the Booyah Stik. It can be any stick that's five feet long or thereabouts. Mike, can you turn this way? Now we're going to pretend it's a wall. It's touching at the shoulders. Mike, grab above your head. Grab the stick there, grab below. Okay, now it's touching his shoulder. Now Mike's going to make this stick touch the back of his head and his butt. And you can see his back, and everything is in line. It's straight. Now, from this, you can actually do squats to make sure you maintain while you're moving. You don't have to do squats, but you can actually walk around like this and get a feel for what good posture feels like.
Mike: Is this where the saying, 'I got a stick up my butt,' came from?
Brad: Ah, that's not a family show. Now, if you want to take it to the extreme and have this throughout today, you simply take some tape, duct tape it around the head and the waist that's touching. Go ahead and walk around. Mike, go ahead and tell them how it feels.
Mike: I feel like a mummy. I can't really walk much, but at least my spine is straight.
Brad: Yeah, exactly. Obviously, I am joking about this. I don't expect anybody to do this, but I think it proves the point on what you can do with this stick and how your body feels really awkward when it's in good posture after being slumped for so long. Let's go on to the next. The next exercise we're actually going to show you. It's the same thing. You can do it on the wall or the floor. Mike will be doing it down there. Simply get you that posture we talked about earlier. And then hands up against the wall. You'll find your elbows and hands may not get there yet, but work on them. Bring your hands up and down. Tuck the chin in. If your chin does not go in far without your head touching, you can do overpressure. Get that first and then work the arms. Look down at what Mike is doing. It actually works better down there because he's using gravity. So work either way or both. Go ahead, Mike.
Mike: If you're a beginner, I would say you may want to start with just your arms straight at your side. It's a little easier. This feels a little more advanced. And you can just kind of do snow angels to begin with. Do what you can comfortably. Again, when you have your back on the floor, gravity is just holding you there. So I find it easier than the wall.
Brad: Yeah, and you may progress to the wall. We've got another easy one you can do every time you walk through a door. I really like this and do it myself at home.
Mike: Here's our stairway to nowhere. So just go here. You're going to do a "W" again, but use the frame of the door. I'm making a "W," and then I lean forward into it to get a nice stretch. This is going to work on your back extension up top. And it's also going to stretch your pec muscles, because oftentimes with forward posture, your pecs get tight, so we need to stretch those as well. So just go through a doorway, you can hold this for 15 to 30 seconds.
Brad: That's right. Now, the biggest thing to think about with this is your head. Go ahead, lean forward, and don't let your head go forward, and then you're actually making the problem worse. Make sure your head is back, and you're going to think about having that Booyah Stik back there. Maybe you could try it with the Booyah Stik taped to you like I did earlier. You know, I bet you some people would do it, actually, Mike.
Mike: Yeah, I just did.
Brad: And you liked it, he really did. The next one, we all sit in chairs. Some of us sit in chairs for long periods of time. While you're sitting there, we're going to do another form of the "W" stretch. Simply, don't do this in a soft chair, a firm chair, like a desk when you're at the computer or your workstation, at the supper table, back like this. Chin goes in, stretches back there, and Bob's famous, what's that again?
Mike: Hallelujah.
Brad: Hallelujah stretch. Hallelujah, stretch it up and back. Now Mike did something; he invented something with this.
Mike: Yes, I invented the kickball.
Brad: Show them, Mike. It's actually the use of a ball like this that works well. Do it, Mike.
Mike: So just take a ball, place it wherever you feel like you need, maybe wherever your back is starting to round forward, so you can place it higher up, in this case. And you're gonna do the same exact thing, except for using the ball as a fulcrum. If your shoulders have problems, you don't have to lift them up, but you get a bit more stretch when your shoulders are involved as well. You can do the "W" shape, you can do straight arm shape, whatever is ever comfortable. Just find that region and do some repetitions using the ball as a fulcrum. If you say you bend lower, just move the ball down lower and focus on that area.
Brad: Yeah. Now, Mike, you started this with real-life patients about 15 years ago, wasn't it?
Mike: Well, I've only been working for 12 years, so it's been more like 12 years ago.
Brad: Oh, well.
Mike: But sure.
Brad: Yeah, he's a natural. Alright, now we have one more thing that's actually invented specifically for that posture and eliminating that hunchback.
Mike: I think you failed to mention the Booyah Stik stretch here.
Brad: Oh, yes.
Mike: In the back. He got so excited, he forgot one.
Brad: Yep.
Mike: So again, you're just gonna take a stick of sorts. You could use a broom handle, whatever you've got at your house, put it behind you. If you have shoulder issues, wider out will be easier for you. If you don't have shoulder issues, you can grab a little closer. And again, you're going to work on doing chin tucks, go backwards. This is going to work as your counter force. Kind of similar, when we had a chair, and you're just going to go back like this, and Brad's going to do it with his walking stick.
Brad: Yeah, this is one I do at least three days a week. And I really like the stretch on my shoulders in the front. I can tell I'm a little tight there. Now, can we get going with the.
Mike: The posture pad?
Brad: Yeah, the Posture Pad, again, specifically designed for this, we're going to show you how to use it on the floor. It has tennis balls that stick in there. We're going to pull those out. That's for the advanced version. We'll show you the beginner version. Actually, I think Bob really came up with the idea, and then I helped with the development of it. But if you look at it, this is going to give your back a chance to arch back where that hunch is and unhunch the back, if you will. There's a radius on there, so it can be specific to the location and comfortable. Oh, should I look over here? No, no, oh yeah.
Mike: Me. Stay in your camera.
Brad: Okay, now look. Can we see right there? I'm going to go just below the neck, so I'm getting on T2. There we go. If you're not familiar with what I'm talking about, it's therapy talk, a little bit. And I'm going to arch right over. Oh, I just got a cavitation, in other words, my back cracked. Oh, it feels good. This can work out well. Now I'm going to move up a little bit to get to the next level. Stretch back over that.
Brad: Now, if you notice muscles are tight on each side of your spine, that's where the balls come in place, because those balls are going to press on those muscles and give them a static massage, if you will. And allowing, ooh, that feels good. Yeah, there we go. Allowing those muscles to relax and everything goes good. Mike, do you have any comments about the posture pad?
Mike: Just take it easy. Go slow. If you need more cushioning, you could certainly add a towel over it for beginners. Some people may just lie there and not put their arms above their heads. It may be too aggressive early on. I know personally, my father, who is 70 years old, is a little aggressive early on, so he actually may need a pillow underneath his head. Slowly get rid of that. If you really have that forward head posture, that's a good beginner way to do it.
Brad: Yeah.
Mike: Brad's grabbing a pillow now so he can take a nap.
Brad: Yeah, yeah, you brought some excellent points. I've been doing it for a while, so I'm very comfortable without the pillow or lying a towel over the balls for a little comfort. Wow, I'm actually getting warm, Mike. Sweaty.
Mike: Well, that's good.
Brad: Yeah.
Mike: So give all of those options a try. Pick which one works best for you. They all essentially do a similar concept, so just pick one or two and do them each day, a couple times a day.
Brad: That's right, posture, posture, posture, it's all about that. We got another video that also emphasizes this.
Mike: Yes. If you want to stop walking with a hunched-over posture, you can check out our video, "How To Stop Walking Hunched Over! 5 Best Fixes".
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