When you hang your head down and forward, you may not know the problem right away, but over time the neck becomes painful. If this is a child then it becomes worse during growth so that as an adult this person might be having a lot of arthritic pain.
It’s very simple to remedy.
When I was a kid my dad did a lot of photography and he said to stick your elbows into your ribs and use your arms as though they are tripods holding up the camera. That has always worked for me and now works with the cellphone as well.
It’s always been said that the head of an adult weighs approximately 12 pounds. Now if you were to hold a 12 pound bowling ball way out at the end of your arm it would feel like it weighs a whole lot more because of the leverage. That’s the same problem when your head is tipped downward and forward. It puts that extra pressure on the neck leading to eventual pain. Pain makes you feel a lot older then you felt before the pain. What to do?
If you’re a kid with a cell phone you’re going to want to look like all the other kids with their cellphones so you’re probably going to tip your head down and hold the phone down low in exactly the way which is going to lead you to adult problems. Compromise with yourself, holding it up a little.
When we were young we thought we are going to feel the way we do right now forever. I used to work in a warehouse. One of the guys must have thought he was Superman because when he saw some pipes falling off the front of the forklift he never moved. When the pipes hit him, it broke his back. Interestingly, one of the things I felt most badly about was that his talented and beautiful fiancee left him. The young sense of self was no longer there for him. His life was very different in a wheelchair. No, Text neck will probably not put you in a wheel chair but it will make you feel a lot older, a lot more quickly thank you would have thought. Hold your cell phone up a little higher.
It’s really fun being a leader and perhaps other kids will follow you and start holding theirs up a little. Then you can hold it up even higher and avoid feeling older quickly as the pain sets in.
Here’s some technical information.Your head can feel like 40 pounds if your neck is tilted 30ﾟ forward. Your head can feel like 60 pounds at 60ﾟ.
When you habitually hold your head forward and/or down it throws your hips forward as well. It can actually cause foot problems which can affect you as an athlete or just somebody who is standing at work or play. Starting from the other end if you have flat feet it can affect you all the way up to your neck. Then when you add text neck to a compromised position it can cause even worse problems.
Every patient who comes into my office has their feet scanned to see if they are already flat. I want to make sure the kids and adults alike have a life without extra pain. I welcome you to call and come in just to get your feet scanned as a service to our readers.