Text neck - devices and neck pain
On average, we spend 3 hours and 15 minutes per day on our phones. Just look around you, everyone has their heads down. This is causing an epidemic known as “text neck”.
Text neck is a term commonly used for an overuse injury caused by holding your neck in a downwards position for long periods, particularly when using mobile phones.
We know that the adult head weighs around 5kg. By bending the neck forward, it puts up to six times the load on your cervical spine, meaning that instead of your neck muscles holding up 5kg, they are now expected to now hold up to 30kg!
When holding your neck in this position for extended periods it causes excessive amounts of tension in your deep neck muscles leading to pain, postural dysfunction and even headaches.
If this problems is left untreated, it can lead to chronic inflammation of your tissues, nerve pain and can even change the curvature of your spine, leading to a permanent “poked-chin posture”.
We are seeing this condition at an increased rate in our clinic due to the increase in popularity of smart phones, tablets and video games.
The incident of children and adolescents reporting neck pain is occurring more than ever. This is alarming as we know that our vertebrae in the spine continue to develop up until 16 years of age.
Prolonged forward head posture, when using devices such as phones and iPads, can alter the bone structure of children’s vertebrae before they have finished growing. This can lead to irreversible damage to their cervical and thoracic spine, causing chronic neck pain.
Signs that you may have “text neck” include:
Pain in the neck, upper back and/or shoulders
Forward head posture (poked-chin posture) and rounded shoulders
Neck stiffness
Headaches
Early intervention and treatment are the best way to treat text neck. The aims of treatment are to reduce pain, address postural imbalances and modify habitual behaviours related to this condition.
Some helpful tips to prevent the occurrence of text neck are:
Hold your device at eye level
Take frequent “screen” breaks
Sit and stand up straight when using your device
Stretch your neck and upper back regularly
It is not too late to help your neck. Our Physiotherapist’s here at Aevum are highly skilled in diagnosing and treating text neck and can put you back on the track and get you pain-free!
Erin Kelly - Physiotherapist