Hump on back of neck

RE: Hump on back of neck

Hi Maddiemo,
usually associated with forward head posture, can be successfully addressed with postural rehabiitation, where are you based , I could poss recommend someone to help. I tend to think it is not hereditary but more of a learned behaviour from you mother who in your formative years was your role model, therefore your posture may be linked to your mum's posture but only because you copied it.

How does it affect your activities for daily living, ? do you suffer headaches? are you round shouldered?
Regards

Gaz

RE: Hump on back of neck

Gaz is thinking about a bony hump - but I have had a couple of clients who have a fatty hump on this area, and it's nothing to do with how they hold their head, it seems to be a fat storage pocket, and purely hereditary.
Sharon

RE: Hump on back of neck

Hi Sharon,
I wasn't thinking purely along the lines of bony prominences, I have had several clients over the past few years who have a muscular hypertrophy. This has been rectified with muscle balancing and postural reeducation, for those interested I have found weak rhomboids, lats, and stenocliedomastoid, combined with over active pecs, traps and lev scap. The use of a plumb line to assess posture usually throws up this forward head posture, incidently using the principle of levers, for every inch forward of the plumb line the ear appears, it will add approx 11lb to the weight of the head. Other symptomsmight be regular headaches, fibrous palpation over clavicular division of SCM. inability to keep chin level whilstrotating,inability to turn head fully thru' 90 degrees,discomfort whilst palpating mastoid process.elevated shoulder(s), rounded shoulders, inability to depress shoulders fully, or retract without elevating. hands in normal anatomical stance will be forward of midline, with possibiltiy of rotation at A/C joint indicative of rotator cuff imbalance. Forward head posture will usually be combined with excessive thoracic curve and a lack of thoracic rotation, approx 5 degrees rotation should be available from lumbar, the 4.5 degrees from each thoracic vertabra, other rotation comes from atlas/axis.
That said, I have had a single client with a "fatty" neck, not a usuall fat storage area, unless there is a lot of fat storage elsewhere.Without going back thru' notes I cannot remember what else I found with her.
Will investigate and report back with any newsworthy findings.
Regards again
Gaz

RE: Hump on back of neck

Wow, I have this exact same 'problem'! I suffer head-aches and have seen specialists & physiotherapists but still the head-aches come and go. My mum also has the 'hump' so I also just assumed it was hereditary.

Gaz, I live in South East London so if you can recommend me to anybody who can help I would very much appreciate it.

RE: Hump on back of neck

Dear Gaz, I agree with your wonderfully thorough analysis of this postural conditionand I'd saya goodly proportion of our computer-hunched, car-driving, slumped society suffer from this and that's why they need us.But my clients' fatty pockets weren't associated with this posture.
Sharon

RE: Hump on back of neck

Hi Sharon,
the great thing about this site is we get advice from all kinds of people with all kinds of skills, I read your posts with interest and as always respect your views, I guess I will keep an eye out for these "fatty deposits" and see if i can improve my consultation process to include any family links with this kind of condition.
Hi anhollingdrake,
If you want to PM me I will recommend therapists who might be in your area. I can also give you some advice if you give me details of what your symptoms are.
Regards to all.
Gaz

RE: Hump on back of neck

Hi Maddiemo,

I have always had a small lump on the back of my neck too.I don't know if it's the same thing or not (it's about the size of a brussel sprout!) & it gets bigger & smaller. I have always had it & always suffered from neck & back pain - I've been a dancer all my life so posture has never been a problem.
The bigger it gets, the more painful & tense my neck becomes, which often results in headaches etc.
I went to the doctors about it when I was about 6 & all I remember is that the doc said it wasn't anything to worry about. I've been thinking about going back to the docs about it recently as the neckpain & headaches that can come along with it get me down at times. I'm constantly asking my partner for neck-rubs! (Which probably doesn't do it any good but it makes it feel slightly better for the duration of the massage.)

Anyway, it's interesting to hear that it is hereditary (if I have the same thing as you) so I will inquire if either of my parents have it too.

SS
x

RE: Hump on back of neck

Hi all,
this condition can bedevelomental, occupational or hereditory and even a mixture of the above.

Trying to address the condition with only exercise and postural advice is not always effective.

The condition tends to develope(in the soft tissues(muscles) at the neck shoulder junction)over a period of many years.Yourbody is reacting to the loadon this junction bythickening the fascia in an effort to provide more support to help the muscles cope. Thisinflamatory, painfull effect causes restriction of movement and a tendency to adopt a worsening posture.

Successfull recovery of range of movementand reduction in the size of the(dowergers) humpcan beobtained usingdeep massage techniques to break down the thickened tissue and release the resticted area.
This needs to be donefirst to allow posture re education/strengthening ect to be effective.

The treatment can be difficult to endure as the area is oftenalready enflamed and sensitive but the end results can be well worth the effort =
1/increased range of movement.
2/better postural alignment.
3/ resumtion of the opened back dress wardrobe.

Regards steve

RE: Hump on back of neck

Thank you all. I am not alone in this I see. I am going to look on line about this deep massage it sounds good. I live in Guildford so if there is anyone out there that does this in my area I would like to hear from them.

I do have a lot of pain in my neck, it sort of flares up, and sometimes get a headache, the lump does get smaller sometimes too. It also feels like fat, I am not over weight, I have seen it on over weight people, but I must say If I do have to much weight is always at the top, I am apple shape.

RE: Hump on back of neck

hi maddiemo,
if you PM me I have a contact in guildford.

Hi Steven,
When I spoke about muscle balancing, I do include soft tissue techniques for lengthening or toning affected muslce groups. I use both sports and/or remedial massage as and when appropriate.

Regards
Gaz

Hi,
I have a very large painful lump on the back of my neck, which is swollen , it is quite painful, my shoulders are also painful.

Some years ago I went to the doctors with the problem, he was not interested and I think he put is down to the fact is that I am overweight which some doctors do, years on the hump has gone down my back its like a big V and the pain goes down my spine.
I cannot believe its just because of my weight because about 20 years ago, I was putting together a four door wardrobe on my own and I was putting the top of it was very heavy, I dropped it above my head and it fell on my back below my neck, it hurt, very much but with there being no bruise so I left it, this is where I think I must have damaged something. I might be totally wrong.

My friend had 2 of these, a 'lump' & a bigger 'hump' . He had been suffering neck & shoulder pain for years. (It seemed hereditary: his Dad had had similar, & suffered no further probs once they were surgically removed.)

My friend eventually had both lumps removed privately as a 1-day hospital patient.
1 large lump was sebacious, but old & hardened, so no way of getting rid of it without minor surgery.

The larger, softer one was lymphatic. Biopsies showed no probs. The scars healed up wonderfully, now hardly noticeable.
At last he is re-learning better posture, with the help of both Alexander Technique and Pilates (he goes privately, as he is shy of being the only man among women in the local group sessions!)

The shoulder-pain is beginning to ease. In his case, he has a slight skeletal deformity causing pressure on nerves, but without this I'm guessing he would be totally pain-free by now!

Healing thoughts & best of luck with this.

are we talking about dowagers humps? if so i also have one and suffer from very regular headaches and migraines and awful neck and shoulder tension. i have been told that it is not down to this but to be honest i cannot see how it doesnt have some effect as alreday said, the head is more forward and therefore is putting more strain on the neck. it is also horrible looking! although most people say they dont notice it. (think they are being kind. i never wear low tops at the back because of it. my mum, aunt and another female in their family also had one.

Wow. I love the exchange of learning on this site. Some really helpful stuff on this thread. Thank you. I have seen this on quite a few people I've massaged and not always folks of 'an age'. Regular massage around the area and encouraging increased mobility does seem to help to reduce it in some cases...but yeah I think certain illnesses can have this as a sympton too and some medication may lead to it. It may be a dowager's hump, buffalo hump, inflamation, non malignant fatty lump...hadn't considered a hereditary factor but would agree that postural analysis might highlight if there's scope for working on that too and could be a major contributory factor. Got to be worth a try. You are beautiful as you are and maybe you could try EFT if you find yourself feeling down about it? x

Neck Fat

I'm only 19 and I've had a neck hump for as long as I can remember, it's so embarrassing at dances and anytime I don't wear a collared shirt. (which is what I've been hiding behind. I live in Milwaukee, WI during the school year but go back to around Green Bay, WI to go back home. Where can I go to get one of these deep massages? I have really poor posture but I have tried exercise sometimes (I'm not good at doing it regularly), but when I do my back feels stronger

bony hump!!

help! i'm 18 and have a bony hump on back of neck. its like a permanent slouch. its probably due to bad posture but when i straighten up it starts to hurt after five minutes so have to slouch again. when i feel it its kind of hand and can feel my backbone. i really wanna try some exercises of things i can do at home to fix it but dont know what to do. if u have any advice or tips on how to fix it then please help!!

Hey
Im 19 and have had hump since i was little...when my mum took me to the doctor she said bacause i am tall its looking down all the time lol basicly she said posture....i recently have baught a zen chi maschine (which is supost 2 help with posture) it has helped a bit but iv stopped using it for now as iv been busy...it also helps with back pain and head aches/migraine and so many other things i would recomend it, i think mind is mostly fat now....does any body know how to get rid of that?

I always wear my hair down as im so ashamed of it...it is horrible and i know how you must feel...id give anything to wear my hair up for a change.

If you want to know anything else feel free to PM me 😀

Good luck.

I'm not alone too then! I have some variation of buffalo hump - mostly neck area. Know anyone in Northern Ireland that can help Biggaz lol

In my case I would say partly heriditary - my paternal grandmother has this, well think hers is a dowagers hump - but also postural. I'm quite big chested so I know a lot of pressure is on spine plus I tend to be pulled forward so I guess my neck's got used to this position. I'm 33 and recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia so I reckon I'm gonna be stuck with this forever and dificult enough just to get out of bed some days never mind do exercises lol.

Hi angelstar,
I will have a look on my database and see if I can recommend soemone in NI, . on another level tho' I dont suppose you have a lot of "diet" products in your diet do you as there is some anecdotal evidence that some fibromyalgia has been misdiagnosed and could acually be aspartame linked, try researching "the sweet poison" it may be worth looking at.
incidently for every inch of forward head posture the relative head weight is increased by eleven pounds, so your spinal pressure is explainable. it is also reasonably easy to counter with some functional exercise, not necessarily the gym or hours of workouts, just some common sense approaches to using muscles correctly.
all the best anyway,regards
BGFL

Hi BGFL and thanks for reply.

I think I'm been suffering from fibro since I had glandular fever aged 17. The drs at the time were at their wits end with me as I was so badly brought down by it - I laugh when I think one even suggested homeopathy - they are the most user-unfriendly lot lol

Over the past few years I've tried everything and have one of the healthiest diets around. Two years ago the haematologist told me there was nothing wrong, blood wise at least, and sent me on my way and the next couple of years were spent watching my Mum's struggle with cancer (almost a year since she passed away now) so really my health was not top of my mind.

I've been taking Corvalen - d-ribose sugar and it definitely has given me a bit more energy. Also Co-Q10 but think it takes a few months to really see improvements. Rheumatologist over here basically said this is what you have, I don;t need to see you again go away. She just said go away and read up, gave me a 2 page handout dated 1999 and told me some people got relief from pilates and reflexology. (didn;t even ask me if I was working - I'm a relexologist lol).

Your advice is good and may help another forum member so thanks for your time

Hi Angelstar,
best wishes, regards BGFL

Hey there,

I am posting in here to hopefully get some answers. I'm glad to see I'm not alone in this. I've been searching around the internet, and I can't find too too much on this, and, unfortunately, I'm in Canada not the UK.

I'm 18 years old, and have a lump at the base of my neck. It's not fatty or anything, it's my spine. My posture isn't perfect, but certainly not too bad. As I've noticed this more, and become more self conscious about it, I noticed that both of my parents have it as well. My mother especially, but her's looks bigger than mine, like a calcium build up or something? I don't want mine to get like this, and I'll do anything to prevent it. I had a bad lower back, and my previous back doctor found that the bottom half of my spine, the lumbar curve, was compressed. So I went through something called MedEx training, and it greatly increased the strength of my lower back. Could this curve be the cause of the lump?

I really just don't know where to start. I don't have a back doctor anymore, and my family doctor wouldn't have the patience to actually listen to something like this (I'm trying to find a new doctor). I don't know what to do though really.

All answers appreciated. Thank you.

we learn our posture from our parents so it is likely that your posture is a contributing factor which should be addressed, xrays would highlight any skeletal abnormality
from experience postural re education combined with myofascial release has dramatic effects
regards
BGFL

Hey guys,
I am suffering from the same thing. I know it's from horrible posture, beginning when I was about 12. I would sit on my floor, back against one of those huge blow up balls, neck crooked forward watching tv. I'm in my early 20's now and it's very embarrassing, not to mention bad for my health. I have to take steps to help this get better. Is there a certain type of pillow I should use? I'm usually a side sleeper, but I know I need to sleep on my back. What kind of a pillow is good if you have a hump at the base of your neck?

Hi, I'm so glad I read these posts as I don't know anyone with this - I have this condition it's fairly recent and has got worse over the last 2 years - my job (hunched over a pc or lap top for 10 hours a day) and more time driving to get to and from work I think have contributed. BGFL if you have any contacts in Pontefract West Yorkshire can you let me know? I get married in January and am dreading it being on show!

Help - I have the same problem

Hi
I'm 27 and over the last year or so have noticed that a hump at the bottom of my neck is getting bigger. I hate it and really dont want it to get any worse. I do suffer from rounded shoulders and have always suffered with bad migraines since being young.
I work at a desk all day long, drive to and from work and when using the laptop at home sit with it on my knee - so i am guilty of being hunched over most of the time.
I really feel that I ought to do something about this now whilst I still can and want to get my posture corrected but dont know where to start. I am on a low income and my partner is disabled so I cannot afford any expensive treatments, does anyone have any hints and tips that I can do at home which might help?
Cheers

Neck Hump Causes

Having worked with thousands of people over the last decade of private practice my experience of the neck hump has shown me only a few basic causes:

1) Postural neck hump (most common) from forward head posture (watch video demonstration of forward head posture on xray here: [url]PostureVideos » Blog Archive » Forward Head Posture (Part 2)[/url])

2) Structural neck hump (from a reversed neck curve, usually as a result of past trauma-often car crash) Can only be diagnosed by xray.

3) Dowager's hump (not true fatty neck lump) is the hump not at the base of the neck as with the fatty neck hump but in the upper thoracic spine usually due to vertebral fractures seen in osteoporosis (for the difference between fatty neck hump and dowager's hump read and watch here [url]PostureVideos » Blog Archive » Forward Head Posture Correction[/url])

By far most of the fatty neck humps seen will be due to postural distortions and have a good chance at correction but they take daily effort. This is my own before and after (the forward head posture that can lead to the fatty neck hump).

[DLMURL="http://posturevideos.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2006-Today.png"]My Before & After[/DLMURL]

I also had a hump on my neck at the top of my spine. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and suffered from headaches, carpal tunnel, IBS to name a few. I went to see a chiropractor and it has for me been life changing . I started my adjustments 3 weeks ago and already my hump has almost gone,my energy is almost back to what it was.im improving everyday. I started with 3 sessions a week and now attend 2 sessions a week which will gradually reduce to 1 session a month then every other month. it is a big commitment to make all the appointments initially but it was worth the investment for me. x

Fatty Neck Lump From A Past Car Crash

Further to my post 3 Oct, 20ll:

I wrote that one of the causes of the fatty neck lump is a [COLOR="Red"]structural neck hump (from a reversed neck curve, often the result of a past trauma-usually a car crash that was over 20mph) A reversed neck curve can only be diagnosed by x-ray.

I have just recorded a video today of an x-ray from a young woman with a reversed neck curve from a minor road traffic accident. If you'd like to see the x-ray video [url]CLICK HERE[/url]

I think trauma is an important consideration if you find that your fatty neck lump is not improving with treatment and exercises then I would recommend an x-ray to see if you have a reversed neck curve.