Texting can cause Neck Pain

Texting too much texting and tilting your head down while looking at the cell phone may give you a ‘text neck’.  

According to Chris Cornett, orthopaedic surgeon and spine specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, excessive texting and holding your neck in abnormal positions for long can develop postural pain in many people.

“People get so focused on these devices that they end up holding their neck and upper back in abnormal positions for a long period of time; enough that other people coined the phrase ‘text neck’, which is essentially referring to postural pain,” he said.

Text neck was first coined by a chiropractor in Florida, referring to an overuse syndrome involving the head, neck and shoulders. This syndrome results in extreme strain on the spine due to looking down at the hand held devices such as mobile phones, mp3 players or tablets.

“When you hold your body in an abnormal position, it can increase stress on the muscles, cause fatigue, muscle spasms and even stress headaches. With every degree of motion to the front or side that you move your head, the stress on your neck is magnified beyond just the weight of the head,” Cornett said in a statement.

Cornett also added that as technology continues to expand at a rapid rate, more and more people will experience spine and disc related discomfort.

“We see it as a frequent complaint, and I would estimate that more and more people over time, as technology use continues to expand, will experience this kind of discomfort and injuries from text neck,” he said.

Read More Health News.