What Causes Neck Pain?

Have you ever found yourself looking down at your mobile device for long to extended periods of time throughout the day? Do you ever feel neck Pain after doing so? If you are a relentless texter or a sporadic smartphone user, you may notice that your Neck is starting to hurt while you are using your device. The Ontario Chiropractic Association is cautioning consumers to mitigate stress on their necks and spines by limiting time for texting, networking on social media or playing games on cell phones as it can cause ‘text neck’. A term coined by US chiropractor Dr Dean L. Fishman, ‘text neck’ refers to overuse syndrome or a repetitive stress injury, where you have your head hung forward and down looking at your mobile electronic device for extended periods of time. When users are stuck in the unnatural posture of looking down for a prolonged period of time, it can lead to tightness across the shoulders, soreness in the neck and even chronic headaches.

Weight you put on your Neck while looking down

“When you are looking down at your phone, it’s important to make sure you’re not jutting out your chin towards your chest. This awkward posture can lead to a series of problems that are related to five different types of injuries and neck pain,” said Dr. Jade Egonia, a chiropractor and spokesperson of the Ontario Chiropractic Association. “It strains the joints around your neck as well as puts extra weight on these joints when they aren’t meant to hold up so much. The human head weighs about 25 pounds, but as the neck bends forward and down towards one’s chest, the weight on one’s cervical spine begins to increase. At a 15-degree angle, this weight is about 40 percent more than normal in terms of increased strain that can lead to long term wear and tear related issues or otherwise referred to as repetitive stress-type injuries.”

Neck Strain from smartphones

Smartphone users spend two to four hours per day hunched over, reading e-mails, sending texts or checking social media sites and develops “Text Neck”. This problem could be even worse for us in the future as teens and younger adults could conceivably be spending thousands of hours each year hunching over their phones — a position that can cause lifelong neck pain. “The problem [of neck strain from smartphones] is really profound in young people,” said Dr. Kenneth Hansraj in a report published by The National Library of Medicine. Computers accumulate this kind of extreme discomfort in our necks because they aren’t ergonomic, yet people don’t think twice about the amount of time we spend looking at one every day. Here are some tips to reduce neck pain and strain from your smartphone: try not to hold it out too long at once; use both hands to support it if possible; read while you’re sitting instead of standing, using your phone lying on your side at an awkward angle or viewing it straight up.

Text Neck Injury

“Text neck” is a commonly occurring injury in our modern times. This injury causes the strain of the neck, upper back and other muscular regions associated with the neck’s posture when one bends over or has little space between the top of their head and their desk. However, besides mere pain felt on location, a “text neck” can also lead to several other ailments if left untreated. The first being that it may bring increased curvature in a person’s spine, which will cause more strain on one’s back muscles..As well as this being the result of a “text neck”, there is also anecdotal evidence to suggest that it can lead to spinal disc herniation over time if left untreated. Although this injury doesn’t allow for rapid mobility, one can manage it by taking frequent breaks from bending over one’s mobile device and looking down at one’s screen by raising their mobile device higher up so that they are not constantly leaning forward.

Meet your Chiropractor 

When the text neck epidemic is at its peak, there are many strategies you can employ to help avoid growing pains. For instance, your everyday movements should be considered in order to optimize your physical health and make sure everything remains operating at optimal capacity. A registered practitioner will be able to help you look into ways of keeping yourself stable during all those attempted texting positions while providing other necessary materials when it comes to pain relief.

Do not hesitate for a second if you find yourself experiencing any type of discomfort from your latest attempt at sending an emoji; book an appointment with one of our registered practitioners and finally rest easy knowing everything is going smoothly in your neck department.

Here at the North York Madison Sports Injury Clinic we want to provide you with the best chiropractic care possible in North York. We offer many services from chiropractic adjustments, orthotics consolations, RMT, Physiotherapy, Kinesiology and Naturopathy. Make an appointment today!