Have you heard of text neck? Take a look around you right now and see how many people are sitting or standing, with their head tilted down looking at their electronic devices. It’s a lot, isn’t it? Well, this is exactly how text neck has become a problem. But, have no fear! Text neck is something your West Los Angeles chiropractor knows a thing or two about. Here is what you can do to help avoid text neck!
What Is Text Neck?
Text neck is an overuse injury. When you have your head hung forward and looking down at electronic mobile devices for long periods of time it places a strain on your neck. The human head weighs about 10 pounds and for every one inch of forward head posture, the weight of your head increases by 100%. So, the more you crane your neck forward, the more weight is placed on the muscles of your neck to support. Doing this for long periods becomes a problem and leads to discomfort.
What Are The Symptoms?
Text neck is associated with chronic headaches and shoulder and neck pain. It can also lead to increased curvature of the spine, especially in children. It can also decrease your lung capacity and lead eventually to arthritis.
How To Avoid Text Neck
Aside from making regular visits to your West Los Angeles chiropractor, you can change your technology habits in order to be a little kinder to your neck and noggin.
1. Instead of moving your whole head to look down at your phone, try to use only your eyes. If you can increase the size of the text on your phone this may help you keep your head up straighter since you won’t have to crane your neck in order to read the letters.
2. Hold your phone or electronic device out in front of you instead of down. The best thing to do is to sit in a position where as you hold it out in front of you, you have your arms supported too. This will make it easier and more comfortable on your whole body, not just your neck.
3. Don’t write the great American novel on your device, and don’t read a novel on one either! Even playing games on your smartphone for long periods can be harmful. Try to be mindful of how much time you’re spending on your device and save the larger task for you desktop or laptop.
4. Ask your family, friends and colleagues to help you by pointing out when your posture has taken a nosedive. If they see your straining your neck then they need to call you on it! Maybe you can make a pact with the people around you to help each other avoid text neck!
5. Plan ahead. If you’re going to be on your phone for more than a few minutes and you know this ahead of time, set yourself a reminder to stop at a certain point. Then, stand up, stretch, move your head around and try to get the blood flowing again. This will help you to keep yourself from holding the same position for too long.
6. Do you exercise? Well, strong muscles will help you to have better posture, and better posture will not only thrill your Los Angeles chiropractor, it will also help to keep you healthy and pain free. Try to do exercises that will help you to strengthen your back muscles, ask you chiropractor to help you come up with some moves to incorporate into your day.
7. You can help your children to avoid text neck by monitoring how much technology time they are getting in a day. Pay attention to how they are holding their heads and try to help them create good technology habits. Children are at the highest risk for developing injuries to their necks because of “text neck”, so help them to avoid it!