Have you ever noticed the curious phenomenon that as you grow up, at one point you actually start growing down? 

If you’ve reached your mid-fifties or later, go ahead, measure yourself. Chances are you’ll discover something peculiar. You’ve shrunk. Perhaps just half an inch, perhaps an inch, perhaps even more. So, what’s the big deal? You’ve always wanted to drop a size or two, right? Well, you got it.

Unless you take steps to reverse this trend, by the time you reach your 70s, you’ll likely have lost 2-3 inches in height.  While shrinking an inch or two in itself is nothing to worry about, the processes that cause the reduction in size are something you should care about. Two main processes are involved in this loss of height.

 Firstly, as you age, the discs between your vertebrae lose moisture and dry out. Healthy discs act as shock absorbers for the spine and keep the spine flexible. When they dry out, they become less supple and provide less of a cushioning effect. Worse, drier discs change shape and become flatter and thinner, making them more prone to injury and to the kind of degenerative changes that may lead to chronic back pain down the road.

 The other huge factor in the shrinking equation is the age-related deterioration of posture, which begins to set in as early as age 25. At that point, the soft tissues begin to weaken and give in to the relentless pull of gravity. For most people, the first visible signs of poor posture back support is a forward head and rounded shoulders.

And here is the bad news: if you don’t start doing corrective posture exercises and take other steps to correct posture, rounded shoulders and forward head posture will gradually develop into a hunched back, a.k.a. hyperkyphosis. Believe us, you don’t want that. Not only is that kind of posture bad from an esthetic point of view (it makes you look a lot older), you set yourself up for a host of health problems down the road.        

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The health concerns created by a poor posture when you’re younger are nothing compared to the problems a forward head posture and hunched back create as we grow older. Trust us, the typical rounded shoulders-forward head posture is a contributing factor to almost every single age-related issue you don’t want to develop when you get old. 

In medical terms, when the hunched back, forward head posture deteriorates further, it is referred to as hyperkyphosis. Hyperkyphosis develops when the muscles and other soft tissues can no longer hold up the weight of the head and torso, and the chest and spine gradually caves into the hunched back posture of old age. Fully developed, it becomes the dreaded dowager’s hump.

1. Hyperkyphosis Increases Risk of Fractures

Only in recent years have researchers really begun to chart the effects of  hyperkyphosis, or forward head posture in older people. What they are discovering is pretty remarkable.

You know a lot about how important it is to prevent osteoporosis to avoid fractures leading to disability as you get older. Why? Because osteoporosis leads to loss of function, which in turn is a main factor in forcing elderly to move into a nursing home. Worse, the fractures incurred from osteoporosis may also may lead to death, because many older people never fully recover from the fractures they incur and die within a couple of months after having a hip fracture.

Well, guess what? In elderly people, the rounded shoulders and forward head of hyperkyphosis also is a risk factor for fractures of the hip, leg, wrist, shoulder, and arm. Worse, the risk is greater, the more hunched the back is. It is independent of bone mass density, which suggests that hyperkyphotic slumping is a separate risk factor for suffering fractures, on par with osteoporosis.

2. Hyperkyphosis Paves the Path to the Nursing Home

Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there.  A slumped forward posture—if allowed to mature into the hyperkyphosis of old age—puts you at risk for many of the other age-related issues before thought to mainly be associated with osteoporosis. 

People with severe forward head posture lose the ability to perform simple daily functions, such as bathing and washing themselves, because their physical mobility is impaired. They are also more likely to fall and hurt themselves. All of this paves the road to the nursing home. As you lose the ability to take care of yourself, sooner or later, you’re forced to move to the nursing home.

3. Hyperkyphosis Increases the Risk of Anxiety and Depression

It doesn’t stop there. When a person is constantly stooped forward, it puts tremendous pressure on the chest and lung cavity. This in turns restricts  breathing capacity or creates dyspnea, i.e. shortness of breath.

The breath is the source of vital, life-giving oxygen to all the cells of the body. In the elderly, shortness of breath leads to a host of health issues, including increased anxiety and depression, reduced happiness, and, again, reduced ability to undertake normal daily functions. 

4. Hyperkyphosis Increases the Risk of Common Chronic Diseases 

Apart from making a person feel miserable, shortness of breath also undermines the body’s vital functions.  Elderly who suffer from moderate to severe shortness of breath are more likely to die from cardiovascular or lung disease. General restricted breathing also increases a person’s risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

5. Hyperkyphosis Increases Mortality Rate

With all of this going on, it’s not a surprise that people with hyperkyphosis die earlier than their peers. Studies have shown that older men and women with a hunched back posture have higher death rates; in one study they had a 44% greater rate of mortality.

So why haven’t you heard about this before? Until recently, hyperkyphosis has been largely ignored, because it was assumed that it was caused by osteoporosis. Doctors believed that it resulted from tiny fractures of the vertebrae, which in turn caused the spine to collapse forward into a dowager’s hump. However, recent research shows that hyperkyphosis often develops without vertebral fractures. In fact, about two thirds of older people with hyperkyphosis don’t have any fractures of the spine.

Hyperkyphosis is estimated to be present in 20-40% of older people. These numbers are only slightly lower than those for osteoporosis: 30-50% of women and 15-30% of men will suffer a fracture related to osteoporosis in their lifetime.

In Part 3 of this article, we will show you some of the ways you can prevent or alleviate forward head posture.

Related Links:

• Posture, Balance and Structural Integration (Rolfing) – Rolfing or Structural integration is a great technique for improving the posture.

• Worry about Your Posture No More: How to Find the Best Ergonomic … – Most of us complain about the back pains obtained from long hours of work. …

• What Can I Do About My Bad Posture? – What first impression do you form of a stranger with poor posture? …

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