What is this Text-neck? Another new catch-phrase to fill news reports and magazine articles?
In This Article:
Does “Text Neck” Really Exist?
Yes, it really exists! You could also call it “Posture Pain”.
We can call it lots of different names, but with everyone using smart-phones these days, there has been an explosion of neck pain – particularly in young people! Neck related injuries from repeatedly looking down at the phone are becoming more common, and I think ‘text neck’ is a reasonable term to call it.
Using Your Phone Can Cause Neck Pain!
Hunching over this little screen for hours every day really adds up! But are we going to give up on our smartphones? Are we going to throw away our phones to decrease the serious conditions that poor posture related to text neck will lead to? Realistically I don’t think we will 🙁
You’ve probably been staring at your device for years and haven’t noticed any problems. That’s where this condition is important to understand. Text-Neck has been linked to neck, shoulder pain, headaches and poor posture. It has also been linked with tennis elbow and low back pain, never mind the increased cardiovascular risks from a sedentary lifestyle. These symptoms can creep up on you slowly, but chances of a negative impact on your health increase as the weeks, months and years go by.
Children Are At Risk For Text-Neck
Maybe the most alarming thing is how often we’ve seen this behaviour in kids and young adults with increasingly bad posture. This is the early stages that lead to long term musculoskeletal issues. Add in longer periods in front of computer consoles and tablets will only add to the problems. Obesity in children and young adults is at all time highs which is leading to a perfect storm of poor health.
This sustained forward head posture can overstretch and strain the neck and shoulder muscles causing neck, shoulder pain, back pain and headaches.
If not corrected,text neck can lead to very poor posture causing excessive wear and tear (Osteoarthritis) on your joints and muscles creating an environment for potential injuries.
How To Resolve Neck Pain
This is the difficult part. How to limit children’s screen time is increasingly causing huge stress in households today. It does help when looking to distract and quieten down the kids but where is the line between too much that leads to future musculoskeletal and health problems and enough to keep the peace at home?
Teenagers are a whole other issue. These guys know nothing else. The majority have grown up on smartphones. Hour upon hour looking down, hunched over their phone. Their social life is on there. Facebook , snapchat, Instagram and Tik-Tok. These kids have anxiety and pressures that weren’t there before. All mainly from smartphone use. Both musculoskeletal and psychological.
