Carpel tunnel is so five years ago. "Text Neck" is the new tech-induced body ailment.
According to Florida chiropractor Dean L. Fishman, D.C., who coined the phrase and founded a corresponding research institute, "Text Neck is an overuse syndrome or a repetitive stress injury, where you have your head hung forward and down looking at your mobile device for extended periods of time," he explains. "Don't get me wrong: I love technology, but this is a global epidemic not just from texting, but from using all sorts of wireless media."
The trouble is that, because we text and hover over wireless devices so frequently these days, the repetitive action -- which is not healthy for the body -- is almost constant. "You might remember from Jerry Maguire that the human head ways approximately 10 lbs. Well, for every one inch of forward head posture away from neutral (which is center of ears over shoulders), the weight of your head increases by 100%," explains Dr. Fishman. In other words, the more you crane your neck, the more weight it has to carry.
The disorder is associated with chronic headaches and shoulder/neck pain, but the doctor has also started to see increased curvature in the spine -- especially in kids. Outside medical research has also uncovered evidence of related early onset arthritis and even decrease lung capacity.
As students, we always hung our heads to peruse books or take tests, but then we'd get up and go about our days. "Now, kids close their books and then get back into that posture texting, browsing and emailing," explains Fishman. So, the position is nonstop. The same goes for adults in meetings, at work and even stopped at red lights in traffic. (It's true of me right now, writing this post -- oops!)
According to The Wireless Association, texting statistics have increased astronomically. In June 2006 in the USA, there were 12.5 billion texts sent monthly. By June 2011, that number grew to 196.9 billion. Clearly, this problem isn't going anywhere.
Two control groups practiced a set of four specific exercises and then also received chiropractic adjustment. One group was asked to change their viewing angle of the phone as well, so they could comfortably see it, while holding it at a 90 to 70 degree angle from the floor. "Both groups improved, but the group that changed the angle did much better," explains Dr. Fishman. "That was apparently the most important element."