Text Neck is a Real Thing!
Text Neck is a Real Thing!
Do you:
- Spend hours each day looking down and texting on your phone, tablet, or reader?
- Have chronic pains in your neck, shoulder or upper back?
- Experience tingling, numbness or pain in your shoulders down to your fingers?
If so, you are probably experiencing Text Neck.
The cause is poor posture from constantly looking downward with your head forward. Texting and typing can make matters worse because those activities tend to round the shoulders forward. The problem is that we are designed to hold our heads up, balanced atop the spinal column and supported by neck, shoulder and back muscles. An adult head weighs 10-12 pounds, but as the forward angle increases, the force experienced by those muscles increases – up to 60 pounds at a 60-degree forward tilt! (Remember high school physics?)
The spine normally curves forward in the neck region and then curves towards the back in the upper back. When the head falls forward the supporting muscles, ligaments & tendons are stretched or compressed abnormally; the curvatures and vertebral bones become misaligned; nerves get pinched and irritated…you get the idea. It hurts. And, if not treated, it could lead to spinal degeneration. This is a topic of real concern among medical practitioners, especially with the ever-increasing use of these devices by younger and younger children.
You can help yourself by monitoring your posture, holding and viewing electronics at eye level, limiting your texting time and taking frequent stretching breaks. But the truth is that in most cases this will not be enough. For permanent relief the spinal curvatures need to be restored and the neck, back and core muscles need to be strengthened. A chiropractor can help you create a natural, holistic, safe and effective plan that could include adjustments & other chiropractic therapies, massage, physical therapy, specific stretches and strengthening exercises.