What is Text Neck?
Have you heard of the term “text neck”? You will see this more often as cell phones, iPads, or other handheld devices are everywhere. If you take a second to stop and look around, you will see young people as well as parents and older adults looking down at their phones with their heads parallel to the ground.
Our bodies were not designed for that type of repetitive stress and strain. As an example, taken from the Washington Post; “the human head weighs about a dozen pounds. But as the neck bends forward and down, the weight on the cervical spine begins to increase. At a 15-degree angle, this weight is about 27 pounds, at 30 degrees, it’s 40 pounds, at 45 degrees, it’s 49 pounds and at 60 degrees, its 60 pounds.” * That is significant!
Why?
Think about carrying a 60-pound child on your neck and shoulders for hours throughout the day. So obviously over time, there is a significant amount of stress to the muscles, joints, discs, ligaments and tendons in your neck and upper back causing neck pain, upper back pain and headaches. Long term issues from text neck can lead to overall changes in a person’s posture and health. If you don’t think you look down at your phone often, you can check how much screen time you actually use, (most phones will give weekly updates on this), and it may shock you.
At ProActive Chiropractic, we can help with alignment of the neck and upper back as well as postural exercises and strengthening to keep your spine and nervous system functioning at its very best for years to come. Call us today and have you and your family evaluated to stay healthy! Now through the end of June 2020, ProActive Chiropractic will be donating our first day examination fees to the St. Louis Fisher House. We love our patients and making a difference in our community! “Be ProActive…and Stay Active!”
*Ref. Lindsey Bever, Washington Post