Are you addicted to your smartphone? If so, you may be due for a visit to the chiropractor. That’s because there is a new, silent epidemic known as “text neck” that is becoming increasingly more prevalent among people everywhere that are simply straining the neck during smart phone use.
Do you or your children suffer from ‘Text Neck?’
What is “text neck” and is it serious? Not only is this an epidemic, but it could wreck your spine. Take a closer look at what many chiropractors are adding to their list of physical ailments to treat and why you need to visit your chiropractor now before it’s too late.
What is Text Neck
A new term that may start to come up in your conversations this year is “text neck,” a phrase to refer to the burden on the spine from keeping the neck bent forward and down on a regular basis for use of a smart device.
Since people are on their phones for hours and hours each day, it’s putting the neck and spine at a 15-60 degree angle with the weight of the human head taking effect on the cervical spine. Text neck is a health condition affecting more and more as many choose to hunch over to text, navigate the web, watch videos, and more on their smart devices for several minutes and even hours at a time.
The modern day Forward Head Posture
While text neck is a relatively new term, it does take a play on an older health condition known as Forward Head Posture. Texting has only been around for a dozen or so years, while Forward Head Posture, or FHP, was the original health condition describing this positioning of the head forward from the center of the shoulders causing the head to shift the body’s gravity and cause serious health conditions. Being a completely preventable condition doesn’t keep many from getting it, since people are often attached to their phones for their work and personal lives.
Preventing and treating Text Neck
With proper exercise and awareness of your posture, you can prevent and correct text neck from happening to you. It’s important to keep your spine and posture aligned regularly, which means that when it’s time to use your smart device, you need to be aware of your posture and positioning of your body. With the right exercises and techniques to hold your device properly, you can limit the strain on your neck and spine.
Not only can text neck cause pain to the neck, shoulders, and spine, but it could lead to other conditions including migraine and disc herniation. This is why it’s more important than ever to avoid hunching over and keeping your posture nice and straight, while paying a visit to the chiropractor to get adjustments and realigned.
Be sure to hold your phone at eye level going forward, otherwise you could end up with a spine curvature, pain, and other side effects. Taking a break from texting or navigating and relying on a laptop or browsing by voice-activated Bluetooth technology will allow you to better focus on what you’re doing, keep your body safe from poor posture, and make it easier to connect with less disruption to your daily life.
If you’re experiencing tightness or discomfort around your neck, shoulders, and upper back, it may be a sign that you are experiencing the effects of Text Neck that your chiropractor will need to help you correct. Improve your posture going forward so that you can enjoy the perks of technology in your hands without harming your body in order to do so.
CBC’s Article: Smartphone-related neck pain on the increase
