Keep a Good Head on Your Shoulders

Categories: Uncategorized May 18, 2014

Have you ever contemplated all the directions and ranges of motion your head and neck can move? You can look down, up, left, right, diagonals, circles, and almost everywhere but straight behind you. Do you know why your neck can move in all these directions? Because it was made to!

Your head contains your vestibular system, your balance, postural, reflexive, self-righting system. This is the system that nourishes your brain and keeps your body healthy and resilient - through movement. That is probably one of the reasons it sits on top of a neck designed for so many wonderful planes and avenues of motion. Motion feeds the vestibular system, which helps nourish our brains and shape our bodies. The point is, your neck was made to move.

So why don't you move it? We live in a world full of conveniences, full of reasons that do not necessitate our necks to move. We stare straight ahead. We don't need to move our heads to look at a computer screen, television, iPhone, or even through a windshield. We have become very good at holding our head still and looking straight ahead. In other words, we have become very good at starving our brain and letting our reflexes, our movement abilities, slip away.

We don't move our heads like we should, like we were made to. In fact, we have even become phobic about moving our heads. "Don't look up! That is hyperextension." What if it is just extension? What if we need to look up to see what is on the horizon, or what is up in a tree? Our heads were made for flexion, rotation, and believe it or not, extension.

Moving our heads, mastering our head control in all areas that it should move, is a critical component of being healthy, resilient and strong. It keeps our bodies tied together. Living in a world where we don't move our heads, where we are afraid to move our necks, is living in a world that convinces us to be week, frail, and lifeless.

If you don't move your head much, learn how to move it. Take several movement breaks or movement snacks and look left, look right, look UP, look down. Learn how to move your head. It will help you develop a good head to keep on your shoulders. It will help you become and stay capable of enjoying a life with adventures to be enjoyed.

Does this make sense? Nod your head up and down for "yes."

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