Ask cosmetologists what their customers enjoy least about their visit to the salon, and they will probably tell you that it is leaning back in the shampoo bowl.

The design of salon shampoo bowls requires that clients lean their heads back at an angle that is awkward for most and dangerous for some. A newly recognized neurological condition, called salon sink radiculopathy, can result from the backward angle of the neck into the bowl.

What is salon sink radiculopathy?

Salon sink radiculopathy symptoms include pain, tingling, and/or weakness radiating from the neck to the arms. The condition is caused by compression of a nerve root in the cervical spine. People with pre-existing neck problems, such as arthritis in the neck, or sports, work, or traffic injuries are most at risk. Stylists report that more and more of their customers have been told by their doctors not to lean back in the bowl.

What causes salon sink radiculopathy?

In an article in the American Journal of Physical & Medical Rehabilitation,
(July-August, 1999), Drs. Stitik, Nadler, and Foye present a case study of two patients with this disorder. They report that the backward extension of the neck into the bowl with rotation and side-bending, combined with the mild compressive force by the stylist during salon procedures, resulted in hyperextension. When the neck is in this hyperextended position, the nerve roots are compressed. The doctors recommend that patients with suspected or known cervical radiculopathy avoid leaning their heads back in the shampoo bowl.

What can be done to prevent this condition?

Up to now, stylists have tried a number of measures to deal with this problem, such as washing clients’ hair with their face down while they were standing, putting towels or commercial neck pads in the “U” of the shampoo bowl, or having clients rest their legs on a stool during salon procedures. While these methods are better than nothing at all, they generally prove unsatisfactory.

With the advent of HeadsUp®, salons now have a solution to this problem. HeadsUp® supports the neck and head in such a way that clients no longer have to lean their necks backward and down into the bowl. HeadsUp® holds the client’s head parallel to the top of the sink, thus alleviating the problem of hyperextension and compression of the cervical nerve roots.