We spend countless hours of our time on computers, smartphones and tablets. Research says that we spend 1400 hours(on average) each year on smartphones. While checking emails, text, Facebook and Instagram posts, unbeknownst to us we over stress the forward curve on our necks.. To describe this widespread problem, doctors have come up with the term TECH NECK.
What is a tech neck? How does it affect your health? To understand this better, we need to learn about our cervical spine.
Cervical spine is the anatomical name of neck, which consists of 7 small vertebrae and is the most movable and flexible part of our spine, it allows our head to move up and down and turn side to side. Cervical spine has a natural lordotic curvature, which allows our neck to bend inward gently, and helps even out the backward or kyphotic curve of our thoracic spine and helps balance the weight of our head evenly. Since our cervical spine is highly flexible, it’s also more vulnerable to pain and damage. One frequent source of this damage is tech neck.
Also referred to as cervical kyphosis, frequent painful conditions that result from hunchback and slouching. Many employees and individuals use their electronic devices excessively, thus issues start when we bend our neck forward which:
Pain typically builds up over time and might go away after several days or weeks. It might go away and come back sporadically over many years. Stiff neck and soreness could spread down into your mid back and shoulder blades, sometimes into your arm. It can be sharp at times when you move around or just a dull ache which could even cause headaches.
You may feel this while using an electronic device or it might bother you during the night. Eventually, the pain will distract us and negatively impact your daily life.
While looking straight ahead the weight of our head is between 10/12 pounds, even if we only bend our neck forward 15 degrees to look at our phone, it doubles the weight of our head, making our head weigh around 27 pounds.
Just imagine bending your neck to 45 degrees -- that is almost 50 pounds of weight our neck muscles! Our muscles must work harder now because our head begins to move to the center of gravity forward just a little bit. Supporting a heavier head will cause some neck pain. Using phones for a long time , getting lost over texting, games or work makes individuals forget their posture. Spending long periods in the tech neck position we need to balance it by going to the opposite position for a while.
If you do have Tech Neck it may cause:
It leads to a worsening posture. The muscles of our upper back stretch out and the muscles in front of our body start to become weaker. The neck inches forward and head feels 10 pounds heavier which can not only cause back and neck problems, it can also cause panic and breathing problems. It can also lead to a few adverse effects such as profoundly impacted breathing while staying in a forward rolled posture.
Using a computer or smartphone all day can cause extra neck strain. Forward head position while using these devices will cause muscle overstretch behind your neck and muscles in the front will shorten excessively. It can also contribute to neck soreness, discomfort and pain.
Incorrect ergonomics while sitting in front of a computer and using a smartphone for texting and surfing the internet leads to pain in neck and shoulder. We need to stretch our shoulders out to give them a break periodically and practice forward and backward shoulder rolls.
Experiencing headaches either from having head forward over shoulders too far while reading computer monitor or from tilting head down to read cell phone’s display, either of these positions will overbalance head and could trigger headaches. Instead, try lifting the phone to eye level and adjust the seat so it sits upright with eye level on the computer monitor.
Inflammation and stress of connective tissues and neck muscles can cause stiffening or hardening of tissues and limit the rotation in the neck.
Continue relying on handheld electronic devices harms postural health as they shift to default head-down posture.
Long term use of it can cause wear and tear at the cervical spine and early degeneration of the spine.
Tech Neck can lead to long-term effects such as tension headaches, herniated discs in the cervical spine and neck sprains.
What initially happens is
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Muscles will strain to hold up the head
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Muscles get tightened
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Adds more pressure on disc
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Making them wear out more quickly
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Weakened discs could then bulge or even rupture
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If a ruptured disc pinches one of the nerves then
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Could experience weakness, pain or numbness in arm
Forward bending while looking screen
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If left unchecked could become permanent
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Could develop an irreversible hunch backed appearance
Avoid bending your neck down or sloping your head forward. Hold the phone close to eye level. If holding the screen higher causes arms tired. Buy a holder that elevates devices. Or prop your arms up comfortably by resting your elbows on a tabletop.If you are working on a laptop adjust the height of the screen and use a separate keyboard.
Arrange ergonomic chairs with all proper adjustments.
Keep on moving frequently which will help in blood circulation and gives movement to the neck and overall body.
Learn proper neck alignment posture by looking at your posture-profile in the mirror. If you are standing correctly, you can draw a vertical line from your ear down to shoulder.
Doing some aerobics exercise daily which could include walking at brisk pace, jogging, elliptical or stationary bikes
Stand or sit while clasping your hands behind your head
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Squeeze your shoulder blades back as you open your elbows up out to the side
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Should feel the front of your chest stretch
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Bring your shoulders and head slightly backward and arch your middle back to increase the stretch
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Hold 30 sec and release slowly.
Pull you chin back and reverse forward and down positioning of your head
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So your head will sit back between your shoulders
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If you do this correctly, your head should align directly over your torso
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Relieving spinal compression and backside neck muscle strain.
Sit upright and situate your head directly over your torso
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Now your head up and down so you can feel the amount of movement you have in your topmost neck joint
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Where your skull connects to your cervical spine
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Then hold your nod at the bottom, creating a double chin
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Don’t nod so hard you cut off your breath or hit your throat with your chin
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Hold for 10 sec, releasing slowly
Sit down on the edge of your chair with your feet turned out around a 45 degree angle and legs apart
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Loosely hold your arms at your sides and face your palms forward, sitting upright in a neutral position
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Now, position your back until it's right over your shoulders
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Take around 10 deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling slowly, repeat
As time goes on , you can develop muscle imbalance because of the long term forward head posture
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Stretch and strengthen your neck muscle, chest and upper back muscle to prevent these imbalances
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Minimize cervical spine strain
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Support the weight of your head by keeping these muscles in decent shape.
Pain is a warning sign
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There could be more severe problems recurring if you experience
l Pain between your shoulder blades or in your neck
l Tingling or numbness in your arm
l Frequent headaches
Pay attention to your pain and act quickly by reducing or eliminating any head forward posture neck straining.
Before it gets worse, consulting a Musculoskeletal and sports physiotherapist will eliminate your problem.
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