The case of the Hunchbacked Hipster
Why would I suggest that you don’t buy a tablet? After all, tablets are fun, useful and cool. Just watch the commercials. What the commercials neglect to show, is that after years of using your tablet you’ll end up looking like this:
No one wants to look like that. No one. What we are seeing today is an epidemic of “text neck”. According to the Text Neck Institute, it is defined as:
Definition: overuse syndrome involving the head, neck and shoulders, usually resulting from excessive strain on the spine from looking in a forward and downward position at any hand held mobile device, i.e., mobile phone, video game unit, computer, mp3 player, e-reader. This can cause headaches, neck pain, shoulder and arm pain, breathing compromise, and much more.
I remember entering into practice nearly five years ago, right about the time the iPad came out. Some of my first patients were suffering from this, as of then, undefined condition. Prior to this we termed it “anterior head carriage”. Simply put, this meant the head was held in a posture forward of the body.
According to the Mayo Clinic, forward head posture leads to “long term muscle strain, disc herniations and pinched nerves.” Mayo Clinic Health Letter Vol. 18, #3 March 2000
In regards to breath and respiration, recent studies found “strong association between an increased forward head posture and decreased respiratory muscle strength in neck patients.” – The Journal Cephalalgia, 2009 Feb 2
It has been noted to go so far as to effect our digestion. Rene Cailliet MD, director of medicine at the University of Southern California notes that “loss of good peristaltic function and evacuation is a common effect of forward head posture”. What he’s saying is that FHP leads to constipation and negatively effects digestion.
As the head moves forward over the body, it results in increased tension on the muscles of the back of the neck. These muscles pull on the vertebra they attach to, pulling them posterior. Eventually this pressure pulls the spine into a Dowagers hump- or hunchback. This posture applies extra pressure on the discs of the cervical spine as well, making them more susceptible to injury and possible rupture.
The best solution is prevention. Don’t buy a tablet, and don’t text. If you are going to text, use your voice to text function. If you buy a tablet, place it upright on a flat surface, roughly at eye level.
I know most of you are not going to follow those recommendations. That’s why there are apps like “Text Neck Indicator”
Which is basically an inclinometer, telling you when your phone is at an angle indicating that you have poor neck posture. If you don’t want to use an app, just be aware of your posture. Try and keep your ear over the center of your shoulder, and avoid looking down while performing any task- such as texting. Above all, have your spine adjusted by a trained Longmont chiropractor– a periodic chiropractic adjustment will pay huge dividends down the road.
Yours in Health-