A Modern Spine Ailment: Text Neck
You may have noticed a new buzzword in health news recently: Text neck.
Text neck is the term commonly used these days to describe the neck pain and damage sustained from looking down at your cell phone, tablet, or other devices too frequently and for too long.
It seems increasingly common, and you can frequently see patients come in to a healthcare practice complaining of severe upper back pain. They can wake up in the morning experiencing severe, acute, upper back muscle strain. But the pain is very often due to the hours a person spends hunched over their cell phone. This diagnosis is commonly referred to as text neck.
Of course, this posture of bending your neck to look down does not occur only when texting. For years, we’ve all looked down to read. The problem with texting is that it adds one more activity that causes us to look down—and people tend to do it for much longer periods of time. It is especially concerning because young, growing children could possibly cause permanent damage to their spines that could lead to lifelong neck pain.
What are the symptoms associated with text neck?
Text neck most commonly causes neck pain and soreness. In addition, looking down at your cell phone too much each day can lead to:
- Upper back pain ranging from a chronic, nagging pain to sharp, severe upper back muscle spasms.
- Shoulder pain and tightness, possibly resulting in painful shoulder muscle spasm.
- If a nerve becomes pinched, pain and possibly neurological symptoms can radiate down your arm and into your hand.
Contact Lawrence health Wellness Clinic at 519-746-4144 for an exam and assessment of any upper back pain symptoms you may be experiencing to help you get on the road to a happier and healthy life.