Spine Problems: How Texting will Create this Problem?

How Texting Hurts Your Spine?

Nowadays smartphones are so convenient that people can’t even imagine their life without smartphones. But as every addiction, this addiction also comes with a specific price that you undoubtedly need to pay for. If you are reading this article on your tablet or phone, then you surely need to check your posture. You may have thought that using smartphones while sitting or standing still was the safest thing that you could do, but researchers have found out now that texting while standing has serious health drawbacks as well.[1]

It’s now been logically as well as scientifically proven that smartphones and other mobile handheld devices that contribute to bad posture can wreck your spine and spending endless hours slumped over these devices can put you at risk or serious health problems which may be the ultimate reason for your spine pain causes. Your neck and spine are designed to withstand the weight of your head only that is around 10-12 pounds. But the force gradually increases for every degree your chin drops.

• 15 degrees weight on your neck increase the force to near around 27 pounds.
• Thirty degrees inclination for the neck equals 40 pounds.
• 45 degrees is 49 pounds; and
• 60 degrees is a whopping 60 pounds for your neck as well as spine.

No wonder why you feel sore and fatigued at the end of the day! Do yourself a favour the next time you’re texting or just surfing through the web on your phone and hold your phone in front of your face. Save your spine from damage, avoid the spine problems and spare the added pressure on your neck.

How Texting Affects Posture?

The poor posture that your Smartphone is causing you can even make other people perceive you negatively and even lower your happiness or self-esteem. It’s something like asking the ligaments and muscles over our neck too much to do things over a period and then asking them not to get damaged. If you are wondering  how a small Smartphone can cause so much damage then here’s the answer!

While you are texting the neck remains in an abnormal position as the head and neck are angled forward, and the shoulders are rounded. This is normally referred to as FHP or Forward Head Posture. When the head is tilted forward for a prolonged period of time, then the pressure on the spine dramatically increases which can further cause increased stress on the neck and muscles of the lower back. If you don’t keep an eye of your posture and keep looking down at a phone or tablet for too long, then that would put tremendous strain or your neck which can ultimately lead to wear and tear on the spine and possible future surgeries.[2]

FHP can overload the spine tissues and can lead to severe neck and back pain problems. Do your spine bones hurt? Then go and see an efficient doctor immediately. The tendons and ligaments in the neck can be worn and torn, and this may even lead to permanent changes to the spine due to disc compression. This calls for a need of adopting a good posture that puts minimal strain on the muscles, and avoids unnecessary wear and tear on the spine.

Try focusing on certain measures to refrain yourself from following the bad posture because the longer we have poor posture, the harder it is to correct. The brain gets used to a certain position and perceives it to be the ender upright position. So better correct your posture as soon as possible to avoid certain spine problems! Posture corrector braces are available at Everyday Medical's online store that help in relieving strain on your back and neck.

What can you do to fix this Problematic Posture?

Texting can’t be the only blame for this issue. Looking down to check a Facebook post or reading a story or article on your Smartphone or tablet can  be as costly for your spine. There are a lot of things that you can do to avoid the perils of smartphone neck pain. Some of them are mentioned below:

• First of all limit the hours that you used to spend on your Smartphone. Designate certain times of the day for checking notifications or responding to texts. Minimize these times as much as possible as this can help you to reduce the force on your neck. Plus this will save a lot of time that your Smartphone used to consume so that you get plenty of time for other stuff like for studying or for the family.
• Hold your Smartphone higher and allow your not neck to drop. Research says that poor posture occurs with the head tilted forward and the shoulders drooping forward forming somewhat like a rounded position while good posture is defined as ears aligned with the shoulders and shoulders back retraced backwards. Try to get more inclined towards the better way of living and follow the good posture rule for the well being of your spine.
• Try practicing Yoga! Yoga poses like Cobra and upward dog benefit the spine positively. These sophisticated yoga poses are the best way to gain proper posture making your spine upward and straight by alleviating tightness and tension in the upper and back neck.
• Many doctors, as well as physiotherapists, recommend using flexion, extension, side bends and tilts followed by isometric versions of many exercises to keep the spine in place and to prevent causing to much damage to the spine by holding the spine as well as the neck in a proper position.
• Why just Yoga? You can practice a wide variety of postures as well as exercises to keep your spine in a good working condition. Some of these are the text hunch, the laptop slump, the thigh rest, the treadmill lean, the couch flop and the elbow bend that can help to correct your texting positions. Strengthen your back and neck muscles by getting at least 30 minutes of cardio activity each day.

Practising these healthy habits can help to reduce a lot of health-related issue like neck and back pain, tension, headache, Temporomandibular joint, pinched nerves, spinal degeneration, pinched nerves, spinal misalignment etc. All you need to do is to be responsible for yourself so that you don’t adapt to some posture like a typical hunchback.[3]

Though all back pain is not serious and the symptoms may go on their own over time, but you should go and see a doctor if your back pain lasts longer than 72 hours as the symptoms may be a sign of a more serious problem leading to spine problems and a lot more. Better be safe than sorry. Therefore taking preventive measures is ultimately the best option for you if you have waited long enough for the back pain to get worse!

What is “Text Neck”?

A healthy neck facilitates optimal health and function as it has a cervical curve that points to the back of the neck. However, for individuals with a text neck, the cervical spine is reversed, putting pressure on the spinal cord and often resulting in spine degeneration. Spine pain diagnostics have revealed the causes of youngsters’ complaints about neck pain, shoulder pain, and headaches. Yes, it is due to the pervasive use of smartphones as well as tablets that has caused a kind of epidemic amongst proportions of kids.

Many researchers say that if the head is leaned forward, the muscles at the back of the neck are lengthened while the muscles in the front are shortened which mean that none of the muscles like tendons is working proficiently and is incapable of performing to their fullest potential. 

The problem nowadays has worsened and is even expected to worsen because mobile phones are now the device of choice for those wishing to access the internet. Depending on how much time you spend hunched over your Smartphone, the weight on your upper spine can deteriorate your spine conditions. And why just the upper or lower back, neck problems can significantly contribute to pain in the lower body as well due to the increased weight in your lower body.

If you are wondering how then here’s the link! Let’s take an example of just Sciatica. It is a common type of pain that affects your sciatic nerve, which extends from your lower back through our hips and butt down the back of each leg. This pain extends from your lower back all the way through the back of the thigh and down one of your legs. Also depending on where your Sciatic nerve is affected, the pain can also extend to your foot, ankles or toes.

Or else you can always use plantar fasciitis night stretching splint brace to support your heels, toes or ankles and drop foot pains as well as discomforts preventing future pains. This brace can help progressively as well as productively in resolving the toe pain that can be a possible consequence of your back pain and assist you in time of your healing.

References:

1..https://www.health.com/back-pain/cell-phone-back-pain-texting
2..https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/11/what-texting-does-to-the-spine/382890/
3..https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/11/20/texting-spine-damage_n_6189308.html
4..https://www.cristchiropractic.com/how-texting-can-cause-chronic-neck-and-back-pain-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/