What is text neck and how to fix it?
Posted on: 25/Jul/2018 5:53:42 PM
In this era of web-held world, it is very common to notice people being addicted to phones, tablets and other gadgets very often that they are prone to text neck. What is text neck? It is a term created by Dr. D L Fishman, a chiropractor in the US. Due to prolonged use of mobile phone or other gadgets, bending your head down, you are likely to experience upper back pain, shoulder pain, headache, or migraine. There are a lot of activities involving the head down action, but with the usage of gadgets, the effect is a lot more.
This is a very serious issue as there is a huge population suffering with it. In fact, we often tend to forget the fact that mobile addiction in children or even toddlers may even cause permanent cervical spine problems, leaving neck pain throughout the life.
So what are the symptoms of text neck?
- Soreness and neck pain are the most common symptoms. This will develop into severe upper back problems or muscle pain.
- Tightness or pain in shoulder area resulting in shoulder muscle spasm
- The pain will gradually come down from shoulder to arms or hands
- It may also lead to arthritis in neck which will be a very severe issue
The other possibilities of neck pain are
- Reduced lung capacity
- Arthritis Weak muscles
- Disc problems like compression
- Degradation happening in the spine
- Thoracic kyphosis getting flattened
So, how do you fight this problem?
- It is practically impossible to completely bid bye to smartphones and gadgets. Hence a few alterations and restrictions in usage can produce better results. Here are a few tips
- Have your phone raised at a height
- The phone should be kept in your eye level so that you need not bend down to access it
- Rather than continuous phone hours, take a break in between. Keep changing your position during break periods. If you are to use the phone for long hours compulsorily, try lying down on the back and use it in between.
- Make sure to stand straight and use the phone instead of hunching forward. Have your shoulders pulled back and keep it in erect, right posture so that you don’t experience any pain
- Frequently stretch your body – arms and upper back as frequent as possible
