Diagnosis: Text Neck

Text Neck, definitely a condition coined in the past decade among health care professionals when describing the symptoms of their patients. With the advancement of technology and more frequent complaints of neck pain, shoulder pain, and headaches, this new term is only going to be seen more often. Text Neck is the term used to describe neck pain and damage caused by looking down at your cell phone, tablet, and/or other forms of technology too frequent and for long periods of time.  According to statistics, Americans are spending a staggering average of 4.7 hours on their cell phones or tablet devices a day. Considering the average person gets 8 hours of sleep, we are spending over a third of our day on our “handheld lifelines”.  The constant bending of your neck forward has been going on long before cellphones for things such as reading, but the problem is technology is adding one more activity that is leading to these musculoskeletal problems.

Symptoms of “Text Neck” include neck pain and upper back pain that is sharp in nature, muscle spasms, headaches, shoulder pain and tightness, and in severe cases causes neurological symptoms like numbness and tingling into ones arm and fingers due to nerve entrapment. Our bodies were designed to have a curve in the neck that develops and is strengthened when we are babies that keeps our head upright . The purpose of the curve is to keep pressure off our discs, nerves, and bones. The consistent flexion or bending of the neck over time can change ones posture that causes loss of the crucial curve in the neck that we were designed to have.  The muscles running from the base of skull, down the back of the neck, and even to the shoulder area become weakened and stretched and can lead to chronic headaches and muscle spasm.

As a chiropractor, I am seeing this condition more often in the office. Examining x-rays of a healthy neck, there is a visible curve that is present and the spaces where the discs sit are evenly open through the neck. On the flip side, someone with text neck has an alarmingly straight neck with a loss of the important curve. The average adult head weighs between 10-12 pounds, and when the head is tilted forward and constantly looking down at technology, this increases the gravitational pull on the neck and supporting muscles. This applies a great deal of pressure to this delicate area of the spine and the force is equivalent to 60 pounds of extra weight.

Technology is not going anywhere- social media, text messaging, and gaming is making us more addictive to our devices than ever. So what can we do about it to decrease the risk of damage to our precious spine? Because, we can buy new technology but our spine is irreplaceable. The first tip is no slouching. Not only are we looking down at our devices but usually hunched forward as well. Bring your phone or tablet to eye level. This will be very uncomfortable at first but your body will get used to it and it will save your neck. Strengthening and stretching your muscles can help alleviate the nagging pain caused from “text neck”, visit your chiropractor or physical therapist to learn exercises that will help your posture. Lastly, if you are a parent and have control over how much your children are using technology, limit their time on their devices. Childhood are crucial years for spinal and muscular development and their activities and posture at even a young age are setting them up for the rest of their lives.

 

 

About The Author

13 Responses

  5. TamkoschSix

    Glucose tolerance check is done with the affected person being saved on a carbohydrate wealthy diet i. In all forms of amyloidosis, a excessive index of suspicion is critical to perform the suitable testing to identify the disease. This technique is now maturing to the stage of being practically attainable (Abe et al thyroid definition [url=https://glorytissues.com/wp-content/pharmacy/levothroid.html]50 mcg levothroid order amex[/url].
    Two-Item Drug пїЅ 10 or less (no points) Use Disorder Screener for пїЅ elevenпїЅ20 (1 point) Primary Care Clinics Serving пїЅ 21пїЅ30 (2 points) пїЅ 31 or more (3 points) U. In addition, incomplete advert- hol, and different probably deleterious substances) to rule herence may merely be a manifestation of the dysfunction. Prognostic signiп¬Ѓcance of ini- dren: is the International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group scoring sys- tial morphologic patterns womens health va [url=https://glorytissues.com/wp-content/pharmacy/raloxifene.html]60 mg raloxifene sale[/url]. In such instances it’s difficult to judge the everyday age, intercourse distribution of ileal perforation with pores and skin folds and the waist line. Research activities and E-Rare partnership National analysis actions On 1 February 2013 the Council of Ministers approved the State Plan for Scientific Research, Technology and Innovation 2013-2016, which represents the instrument intended to develop and finance the actions of the Central Government in R&D to enable the achievement of the aims and priorities included within the Spanish Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation 2013-2020. Miomatose Uterina 9 ProjetoDiretrizes Associacao Medica Brasileira e Conselho Federal de Medicina Alguns estudos relatam taxa de recorrencia aceitacao da paciente60(C) medications similar to gabapentin [url=https://glorytissues.com/wp-content/pharmacy/meldonium.html]buy genuine meldonium on line[/url]. The infltrated the myometrial layer, at 1 mm from metrial polypoid lesion, however intense vascularity latter shows an atypia of papillary construction the serous membrane. GeneReviews just isn’t answerable for the data provided by other organizations. Spread of prevertebral fascia (or, based on some, between the infection through this route can be life-threatening blood pressure issues [url=https://glorytissues.com/wp-content/pharmacy/norvasc.html]cheap norvasc online american express[/url].
    You know that group A strep ought to be handled for 10 days, but you ask your associate what to do about non-group A beta hemolytic strep. On the opposite hand, you will need to do not forget that a affected person with disordered eating can also develop diabetes or hyperthyroidism. From this point, take a small bite; the ultimate exit level is in a similar position on the other aspect of the wound treatment 10 [url=https://glorytissues.com/wp-content/pharmacy/leukeran.html]generic 5mg leukeran amex[/url].

    Reply
  9. Davicrettw

    Ребята нашел крутой порно сайт sosalkino.lol ! Вот тут мое любимое порно: красивые попы порно — террабайты бесплатного порно на sosalkino.lol ! Скинул Вам свою подборку! Советую!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.