Do you notice frequent neck pain, especially after a long stretch of social media scrolling, catching up on your favorite Netflix series during your lunch break, or in-depth text conversations on your iPhone? You may have what U.S. chiropractor Dr. Dean Fishman coined as “text neck.”
Text neck consists of the repeated pain or aches caused by excessive neck bending, most commonly during phone use. As your neck bends forward to look at your screen, the weight put on your cervical spine increases.
According to a study by eMarketer, smartphone users spend an average of 3 hours and 43 minutes hunched over their phones, placing stress on their spine and causing muscle strain. Text neck can also be linked to pinched nerves, poor posture habits, headaches, depression, and neurological issues.
Now that you know what text neck is, here’s how to relieve your pain without throwing out the iPhone.
Change How You Look at Your Screen
Instead of crunching your neck down to look at your phone screen, either look down with your eyes and a neutral spine, or lift your device up to eye level.
Work on Your Posture
Straighten out your spinal and neck alignment and try to keep your posture in mind throughout the day. We can easily slip into bad posture habits, especially if our jobs involve sitting at an office desk all day or driving a vehicle. Look into more supportive chairs and lumbar support accessories, avoid slouching, and wear supportive shoes.
[Related: Four Ways to Combat Neck Pain]
Try Out Yoga and Stretching
Strengthening your muscles through activities such as yoga and stretching can help alleviate some of the pain that you already feel in your neck and shoulders as well as help to prevent pain in the future. Simple yoga poses such as Downward-Facing Dog, Cat-Cow, and Chin Tuck are all excellent at stretching muscles that are affected by text neck.
Decrease Screen Time
One of the most basic ways to relieve text neck is to decrease the amount of time you spend staring at your phone. If you can take frequent breaks from looking down at your phone, you’ll not only feel more relief in your achy neck, but you’ll have more time for healthier habits such as walking, gardening, exercising, crafting, or spending time with friends and family.
Have questions about how to find relief from text neck? Need an adjustment, or want to set up a consultation? Contact Spencer Chiropractor today!