On Saturday, April 4th, the LA Times came out with an article called “Head’s up on ‘text neck'” in their awesome Saturday Mind & Body section. I believe this is one of many articles, studies and research journals that are to come in the future. Why are they coming our way? Because of our current lifestyle habits regarding electronics. It’s frightening to think how quickly cell phones, tablets, and such invaded our lives and started messing with our posture and behavior. It’s also frightening how much this behavior can severely damage our bodies–especially our spines.
Talk about bad posture
It’s quite plain to see that everyone–no matter what their age–is on a phone or a tablet head bent, myself included. Parents do it, children do it–people of all ages are developing this really bad habit. So get to the point, Alana–why is it bad for us? Well, as your head begins to lean forward as it does when you’re looking down at your phone, gravity causes the head to feel increasingly heavy for your poor neck and spine. The more you bend your neck, the heavier your head gets–all the way up to 60 pounds. Imagine that. 60 pounds of weight that your neck is fighting to keep up. Sure, that’s the maximum, but the normal 10-12 pound head can easily be increased to 27 pounds just by tilting 15 degrees. Yikes.
In this article, a chiropractor noticed a degenerative state of a 17-year-old’s vertebral column. SEVENTEEN. This is a condition normally seen in middle-aged people who have “spent decades of their life in poor posture.” So, just a few years of texting in this modern age can bring down a degenerative state upon our vertebral column–starting in our teens! Our behavior with phones and tablets is quite literally wrecking our body. And as discussed earlier, this lifestyle isn’t about to stop. I know I sound like a doomsayer…but not all hope is lost!
There are solutions and ways to fight against the evil text neck that is destroying our spines! What I will be focusing on is the very one simple way to combat it: bringing your electronics to you instead of bringing your head to your electronics. So simple you wouldn’t of thunk it. Instead of craning your head downwards to your hands–bring your hands to hold your phone in front of you. Yes your arms may tire at first, but hey, there’s a fitness aspect to everything we talk about–this will be good for your arms and shoulders, too! Look at the phone or tablet right in front of your face. If you’re just lounging, you can lie down and hold it above you. If you’re sitting or standing, simply bring your arms upwards so that the device is in front of you, not below you.
Read the article to find out more ways to combat the dreaded text neck such as exercises you can do to stretch or strengthen necessary parts. Use these techniques to stay hungry and fit!
BONUS KITTY PIC
