What is text-neck?
It’s neck pain associated with looking down at your cell phone or other wireless device for too long and too frequently. This posture of bending your neck to look down over the cell phone isn’t a new position. We have been hunching over for years with reading also. The main issue is that we look down for longer periods of time and more frequently in this day and age. What’s most concerning is that this posture is especially common in children! This could be setting them up for lifelong neck related damage and pain.
What are common symptoms of text-neck?
Neck pain, tightness, soreness, muscle spasms, and pain in the shoulders. If a cervical nerve becomes pinched, it can also lead to nerve pain that travels down your arm into your hand (neurological symptoms for cervical radiculopathy.) Text neck may also bring upon early onset of arthritis. So what can we do to help decrease these above painful neck conditions?
Take frequent breaks every 20-30mins.
Make sure you set up your computer so it’s at eye level at the desk so you’re not looking down excessively.
Try to hold your phone up higher to avoid looking down for too long.
Stretch your neck side to side, roll your shoulders back and down (opposite of being hunched over).
You should strengthen the core muscles of your neck and shoulder blade area (scapular stabilizers). These areas are crucial to build endurance in so that you don’t slump forward as much and predispose yourself to other injuries secondary to poor posture.
To learn how to offset the harmful effects of “text-neck”, book your chiropractic appointment now at dr.mdavidovic@gmail.com or 416-906-0767 with Dr. Maria Davidovic.