Text Neck Syndrome

Text neck?

Is this a thing?

Yes it is and if you are reading this from a laptop or mobile device chances are your neck is titled forward and there is a curve in your shoulders.

Well is that the case?

You may not even be aware of the fact that prolonged tilting of your head may be causing neck pain or ache in your shoulders.

I have a personal experience with this condition and was not aware of it until I went to a chiropractor and after looking at my x-rays asked me if I spent a lot of time in front of a computer.

Of course, the answer was yes.

The solution for me was to stand more often instead of sitting in a chair slightly slumped over.

After standing more often than sitting my lower back pain was gone and so were my shoulder aches and pains.

I even propped my computer up on a cardboard box so I was looking straight ahead instead of down and of course there is now a computer desk that raises and lower.

The moral of that story is if you have an idea run with it!

Now throughout my day, I switch from sitting to standing off and on all day I even try to use different chairs when sitting.

The result is that I no longer have any lower back pain.

What we don’t realize is that our body has to put forth some effort to support our head, the average head weighs approximately ten pounds.

If your spine is healthy it will go about the business of supporting your head with no worries all day long however, as you bend forward inch by inch the stress on your cervical spine increases.

See where this is going?

The problem arises when you are staring at your phone in that same position for several hours in the day.

The same can be said about being slouched over in a chair staring at a computer screen for several hours per day.

These effects may be so ever subtle but are cumulative.

You may experience stiffness in your neck or even some mild difficulty moving your neck after prolonged cell phone use.

You may have some localized aching in the lower part of your neck extreme cases would be a sharp pain.

You could experience pain in your shoulders that is actually radiating from your neck area or in some cases you could end up with mild headaches.

Okay, be honest how many times have you almost walked into someone or something while looking at your phone?

How many times have you glanced over at someone in the car next to you and witnessed them staring down at their phone?

How many times have you had to honk your horn because the person in front of you at a traffic light was distracted by their phone and the light was green?

How many times have you been out in public and noticed how many people around you were slouched over using a smartphone?

We can go on about these moments a long time the point being that using the phone at the wrong time can be dangerous and using for long periods of time can be damaging our posture over time.

In fact, there are now posture correctors in the marketplace that are used to help with the text neck condition.

Wearing a posture back brace for shoulder alignment an hour or so a day may improve your posture.
A posture correction brace prevents slouching and hunching.
A shoulder posture corrector device forces you to sit up straight.

The discreet posture corrector device.

If you browse the posture corrector devices online most of the products are designed to be worn on the outside of your clothing.

Most people are not going to walk around in public with a harness over the top of their shirt or blouse that is certainly not a fashion statement and will be shot down in flames.

However, there are discreet devices that are designed to be worn under your clothing so you can go about your day while the device is helping you maintain proper posture.

There are other devices that can be worn under or over your clothing and have discreetly placed pads to prevent bruising or chafing.

A well-designed product would be FDA approved, flexible so you have complete and comfortable movement without any discomfort.

The next time you think of it after you have been on your phone or computer for some time straighten up your neck and back.

If there is a popping or mild cracking sound then you know that your posture has been out of position and you have just straightened it out.

Now imagine doing that without straightening up for hours on end either from working at a computer or staring at your mobile device.

You are more than likely going to feel the effects over time.