What Is Text Neck?
We spend an average of 4 hours on our phones a day! What happens when we look down is we flatten a natural C shaped curve in our neck, this can result in stiffness in your neck, shoulders or poor posture. Modern technology has led to an epidemic of text neck! It can lead to weakening of the muscles in your neck and damage to the ligaments, surrounding soft tissues and can even lead to permanent damage to your spine!
3 Ways to Help and Prevent Text Neck
- Reduce Phone Use: Stop Looking at your devices so much or looking down at them. Think how much time you waste on your mobile looking at meaningless stuff or scrolling through social media which results in damage to your neck! If you don’t want to take time away from your phone, try holding it higher so you’re not looking down and straining all of the muscles, joints and ligaments in your neck.
- Take Regular Breaks: Many of us spend most of the day sitting down and looking at computer screens. It is important to move around and stretch regularly. Also, don’t forget to check the height of your computer screens as if it is too low this can also result in text neck (you could also call it computer neck) and poor posture. Make sure your screen is at eye level. Your neck will thank you for it!
- Chiropractic Care: Chiropractic care can be an effective way to treat neck problems. A chiropractor can adjust misalignment joints. An x-ray may be taken following a physical examination to determine whether your neck pain has caused any long-term problems. Then chiropractors develop treatment plans to correct problems, reduce text neck symptoms and restore nerve function. In fact, chiropractors are well known for dealing with neck pain very well!
Author: Dr Lou Edwards, Doctor of Chiropractic