Chiropractic Care and Text Neck
Remember the old diagnosis of “Nintendo Thumb”? Well now we have “Text Neck”.
Saying that technology leads to neck pain and back pain may be over-reaching a bit, but there is a definite link between our obsessions with hand held electronics and spinal health.
Most of the cases of neck pain that I see in my San Diego Chiropractic office are due to postural stress. The postural stress that causes most of the cases of neck pain in my office is caused by regular, frequent texting, computer use, DS play, cellular phones, iPhones (and similar devices), e-book readers (such as the Kindle), iPods, etc. Kids, young adults and even mature adults admit to spending hours each day retrieving and inputting information into these hand held devices.
The end result of the postural stress caused by hand held electronic devices is known as Forward Head Posture or FHP. Forward Head Posture causes a variety of symptoms that can range from mild annoyances to significant levels of disability. We can often feel the results of FHP, such as neck pain, upper back pain or stiffness, after returning to a neutral position after just a few minutes of looking downward at a keyboard or a smart phone. With time, these symptoms can expand to include headaches, neck strain, pinched nerves and a host of other painful syndromes involving the upper extremities.
The bad news about FHP is that in a few years it will be much more prevalent than it is today. A recent study by Kaiser found that kids aged from 8 to 18 spend an average of nearly 8 hours per day either playing DS type games, texting or using smart phones in some other way. Chances are that this statistic will worsen.
FHP is a type of repetitive stress syndrome. Over my years in practice I have seen my patients lose their careers because of injuries due to repetitive stress. While the world is changing its communication habits it is vital for our health that we manage the time that we spend with hand held electronic devices.
Have a great day!
Dr. Jones
(619) 280-0554