Symptoms
In Cantonese, there exists the colloquial term of ‘低頭族’, meaning ‘clan of lowered heads’. These are people born into a society with a proliferating usage of mobile phones, and who spend the majority of their time looking down at one - this can’t be healthy, right?
The ‘text neck’ describes the posture caused by an extended period of leaning forward while looking at a mobile device or laptop, resulting in repetitive stress injury.
When one looks down at their phone, their head typically bends forward by 45 degrees, increasing the weight of their head by over 20 kgThis resulting strain holds negative implications for one such person’s physiological health.
Symptoms
Stiffness in shoulders and resulting hindrance of motion
Pain in neck and shoulders
Weakness of shoulder muscles
Eye pain
Nerve pain
Causes
This pose is attributed to the use of mobile phones. Technological devices such as phones and tablets possess a feature exclusive to themselves - the need for a much steeper neck angle when viewing on a flat surface, and the use of two hands for texting which further brings the shoulders closer together.
Henceforth, a vicious cycle ensues, as muscles decondition due to bad posture, naturally losing their strength, and the forward head posture progressively worsens.
Growing use of mobile phones
Over 90% of people aged ten or above in Hong Kong own and use a mobile phone - this is around 5 million of the population. Globally, mobile phone users exceed 5 billion - and the number of unique mobile phone users is growing at a rate of 2.3% every year. As such, more and more people are falling victim to the text neck.
Implications and consequences
The risk of text neck is not just an old wives’ tale, the paranoid nagging of a worried parent. Such a posture has been shown to prompt a variety of medical conditions, including:
Early-onset arthritis, or inflammation of joints, preempting immobility
Kyphosis - rounding of the back
Spinal degeneration, triggering pain and weakness, among many other physiological disadvantages
Disc compression, leading to severe back pain
Muscle weakness
Loss of lung capacity, limiting one’s ability in physical exertion and obstructing one’s daily life due to breathing difficulties
Prevention and Mitigation
It is therefore crucial to improve posture in order to prevent the onset of a forward head posture.
Optimize the workplace environment, so one is naturally inclined to sit straight rather than hunched. This can be achieved by raising the screen monitor so that the center is slightly lower than eye level, positioning the keyboard at a level so that the arms are parallel to the floor, and procuring a chair that supports the back etc.
Adjust sleeping environment - for example, by using a cervical pillow
Move and stretch the neck to shoulder region and shift positions intermittently
Do exercises designed to improve the posture - chin tuck, scapular retraction, pectoralis stretch etc.
Limiting mobile phone use
Conclusion
We are a generation of ‘screenagers’, born into a lifetime’s use of technology, such as mobile phones and computers. However, while irreplaceably entertaining and convenient, technology has inadvertently created physiological problems for us in our daily lives. Instead of eschewing technology, we can instead adapt our use of it into a healthier lifestyle.
Sources:
Writer: Kristen Wong
Editor: Isaac Chow
Artist: Holly Liu
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