Did you know the average human head weighs from 10 to 12 lbs? Did you know by tilting our neck forward by just 15 degree this weight doubles to the neck? Most of the time when we look down at our cell phone, tablet or other devices, we are tilting our neck forward between 45 and 60 degrees. This adds an extra of three to four times of our head weight. As we constantly play with our phone socializing with friends, setting up important meetings, and reading emails and news, we stress and slowly damage our neck from this poor posture. Such neck pain and damage is called Text Neck.
Text neck can directly cause neck soreness, pain and difficulty in moving neck. Other symptoms include muscle weakness in chest and shoulders, radiating pain in shoulders and arms, headache from sub-occipital muscle tightness, flattening of kyphosis, spine degeneration.
Here are some suggestions to treat or prevent text neck.
1. Practice good posture by lift up the device closer to our eye level. This can effectively reduce the degree our neck tilts forward and therefore reduce the extra weight we put onto our neck. If working all day in front of a computer, make sure our chair can nicely support our back to keep straight and our feet to be flat on the ground.
2. Improve strength and flexibility by performing stretches for neck muscles, as well as shoulders, back and chest on a daily basis. These muscles are all connected together. And when our muscles are stronger and more flexible, they are better at holding a good posture.
A stretch that can be easily done on a chair at the office for text neck
3. Take breaks from staring at phones, tablets and computers as movement is good for our spine including our neck. Setting up an alarm on our phone could also be a good idea to remind us to have a break on a busy and stressful day.
4. Seek help from professionals such as massage therapists, physiotherapists, chiropractors and doctors.
References:
https://realspinesurgery.com/text-neck
https://www.spine-health.com/blog/modern-spine-ailment-text-neck
https://www.physio-pedia.com/Text_Neck
https://www.spinemd.com/symptoms-conditions/kyphosis
http://prefundia.com/projects/view/the-ridge-stand-plus/11902