Ask the Chiropractor: What is Text Neck and How Can Chiropractic Help?

by Oasis Wellness Partners on June 13, 2019      

It seems like smart phones have become attached to people’s hands. We can’t walk down the street or go out to eat without seeing someone with their head down looking at their phone or tablet. Almost all Americans, including most children, have a smart phone. But all that looking down is coming at a price—“Text Neck” is the name given to the neck, upper back and shoulder pain and hunching caused by hours spent looking down at phones. If your average person spends 2-4 hours a day looking at a phone that adds up to between 730-1,460 hours a year with their heads hunched forward and down. Unfortunately, for teenagers the numbers are even higher. It is estimated that the average teenager is spending over 5,000 hours a year looking down at either their phone or handheld video games.

Poor Posture is the number one cause of Text Neck.

The average human head weighs between 8-12 pounds, but the more your head leans forward and down, the more stress you place on your neck and upper back. If your head is angled down 30 degrees, the weight of your head increases to 40 pounds and it keeps increasing the farther it bends down!

Neck pain, upper back pain and headaches are typically the initial symptoms that someone with Text Neck will feel. However, only 10% of our nervous system feels pain, so there can be years of degeneration in the spine before you ever feel any effects at all. When the neck is pulled forward and down while texting, the joints of the cervical spine (neck) and thoracic spine (upper back) become subluxated, or misaligned. This can cause tension, stiffness, pinched nerves and herniated discs.

How Chiropractic Family Wellness Center Can Help

Through an initial consultation and evaluation, the doctors at Chiropractic Family Wellness Center in Scarborough, Maine will be able correct the problem by removing pressure and irritation on nerves and restoring proper alignment to your spine. We will also inform you about how you can practice better habits and do stretches so that you avoid Text Neck in the future!

Call us at our Scarborough, ME Chiropractic office at (207) 883-5549 to live and feel better!

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