The Recovering Strategy on Forward Head Posture in Chinese Adolescents: Tai Chi and Manual Therapy

The therapist checks the range of motion of the cervical joints and gives manual treatment to the restricted joints. Throughout the examination, the subject lied in a supine position on a professional rehabilitation bed with the seventh cervical vertebra (C7) on the edge of the bed and the other the body above the C7 were placed off the bed. The therapist held the subject's occipital bone with one hand and the radial aspect of the second metacarpophalangeal joint of the other hand to grip the spinous process of the sixth cervical vertebra and slowly pushed the occiput downward to check the joint mobility of the fifth cervical vertebra and the sixth cervical vertebra. After the examination, the restricted joint was accurately located and treated with targeted manual therapy. For example, stretching was performed with the right side of C4-C5 flexed, closing only the right side of the subject's C4-C5 as much as possible to increase joint mobility on the right side of C4-C5.

Based on the characteristics of young people and the need to correct their FHP, the classic Yang's 24 Forms of Tai Chi has been improved. The movements are mostly upper limb movements and the lower limb movements have been simplified to make the movements easy to learn. The modified Tai Chi exercise retains the traditional Tai Chi movements but is simple and easy to learn; at the same time, it increases the movement of the shoulder and neck joints. The subjects performed each exercise session in a group setting at the school gymnasium, with a professional Tai Chi instructor guiding them through a warm-up session, followed by a Tai Chi exercise session.

Intervention content of MSG included 15-min Tai Chi exercise and 15-min manual therapy, with the order of intervention being Tai Chi exercise first and then manual therapy.