What is “Text Neck”?
Text Neck is the pain many people experience in their neck, upper back, and shoulders areas most commonly stemming from long periods of using handheld electronics. As a whole, our society has drastically increased the amount of time we spend on our phones, tablets, and handheld video game devices.
It is estimated that many people spend at least 2-4 hours every day texting, checking social media, sending and reading emails, and using apps. That can equal up to 1,460 hours a year with your head shifted forward and tilted down in the SAME position. The numbers look even worse for teenagers who seem to be permanently attached to their smartphones. Teenagers may be spending over 5000 hours/year looking down at their laps!
Bad Posture is the Cause of Text Neck
Fun Fact: The average human head weighs around 10-11 pounds. However, the further you tilt your head down and forward, the greater the stress placed on your neck and upper back. By the time your head is at 30o, the stress and pull is equivalent to having a 40-pound head! Being in this position for hours at a time is not something your neck was designed to handle.
In the case of text neck, the strain placed on the neck pulls against the natural curvature of the neck, changing it to completely straight, and eventually to a forward or reversed curve. As the head pulls the neck forward, it also strains the soft tissues in the neck, weakens the muscles, and causes the shoulders to start to round forward. This repetitive stress on the spine can cause many problems, including vertebral subluxations(misalignments), herniated discs, and even pinched nerves. Your spine protects your nervous system as the nerves run down the center of the spinal column. These nerves exit the spine between each vertebra. When you have the conditions listed above, the nerves do not have a clean exit, and they get irritated, inflamed, and pinched. This leads to problems and reduced function to the areas of your body that the nerves supply and control.
The nerves (C0 – T5) in the cervical spine (neck) and upper thoracic spine (upper back) will be impacted the most. These nerves are responsible for the functions of your neck, jaw, throat/trachea(windpipe), balance/equilibrium, your heart and lungs, and upper extremities. When nerves are pinched, their effectiveness is diminished. In the C1 – T5 section of the spine, this can cause various types of pain, headaches, problems with chewing/swallowing, high blood pressure, thyroid problems, and many more.
With the forward rounding of your shoulders, you also reduce your lung capacity, which reduces the amount of oxygen circulating in your body and reaching your brain. The lack of oxygen also weakens your immune system and slows down healing.
*Try taking a deep breath while sitting up straight and then trying it again with your head facing the ground.
Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Now, think about the thousands of breaths you take each day and how that could have long-term effects on your health!
Physically you will start to develop a “hunched over” appearance as your shoulders will start to roll forward and your upper back rounds. Your posture will continue to get worse and your back muscles will get weaker.
Protect Yourself from Text Neck
Hopefully this article should be a wakeup call to maintain proper posture while using your smart phone or electronic device. Simply lifting the phone or device to eye level will help significantly.
Secondly, make sure to stand up and move around for at least 5-10 minutes of every hour. We already sit much more than we are designed to and sitting too much has its own share of problems.
Third, anyone that does a lot of texting or any activity that has your head in a downward position should see a chiropractor so that the vertebrae in your neck can have their proper motion restored. Spending time with your neck in a bad position is guaranteed to cause subluxations (misalignments) in the neck that will need to be corrected or degeneration will accelerate faster, causing future problems to arise much sooner than expected.
Chiropractic Care and Text Neck
Chiropractors are specialists of nerve, muscle, and joint pain, especially when it comes to the spine. Therefore, we are the most qualified doctors to correct text neck and its problems. Since text neck pain is caused by misalignment of the vertebrae in the neck, it is only natural to see to a chiropractor who has specialized training to make sure the vertebrae in your spine are moving properly and can educate you on tactics to improve your posture and lifestyle factors that contribute to text neck.
Here at Functional Performance Institute, we will be able to show you exactly what problems you have, and how far your text neck may have progressed. Then, we design a treatment plan to eliminate your pain, restore function back to your neck, and strengthen the muscles to prevent this condition from returning. Chiropractic care is one of the best means of wellness and preventative care. Having your neck and back properly checked on a consistent basis will stop a lot of problems before they even begin. We know that texting in a head down position is going to cause subluxations (misalignments) in the neck — sooner or later — at any age. And then it is only a matter of time before you start to feel pain, experience headaches, and other problems associated with text neck. Take steps NOW to prevent text neck.
Contact Functional Performance Institute at 858-215-4485 and arrange for a consultation with Dr. Korne. Text Neck is a problem we can correct. If you or someone you know is suffering from text neck pain, please recommend this article to them to help them better understand the likely cause of their pain!