Hi there, I am Dr. Govind Gurumoorthy, I am a specialist Orthopedic Surgeon having clinical experience over 10+ years. I am here to give you an insight on how routine daily activities affects your health and physique causing “Text Neck Syndrome”.
Yes, this is specifically because of excessive usage of smart phone, in the first place, tablets and lastly, laptop. This is how the disorder got its name as TEXT NECK syndrome. It is very much prevalent in our society and it is also known as the “Pain of the Modern Era”
Since smart phones have become a part of our lifestyle, from wakeup alarm to the last goodnight, we all are so addictive to the usage of mobile phones, we have to be careful about it.
The text neck syndrome is a repetitive stress injury induced by prolonged neck flexion at different angles and pain sustained from excessive watching or texting on handheld devices for long periods.
This refers to the strain which surfaces at your neck – cervical region and upper back.
Which is because of continuous use of mobile phones or other similar device, having bent your head down to look at your device and doing an activity that forces you to lower your head for prolonged time and consistently doing it over a period, you will develop this syndrome, which is defined as “Text neck”.
Since using a mobile device often can lead to poor posture unknowingly and one might develop symptoms of text neck.
- Instant upper back or neck pain when using a handheld
- Nagging or sharp pain in the neck or shoulders at the end of the
- General shoulder pain and
- Intermittent or constant headache made worse when looking down or using the
- Leads to posture problems and related health
And it seems increasingly common now a days. Before couple of decades this was an unknown theory, as we all know these devices never existed, then, so the syndrome too.
I would encourage to make a sincere effort to keep the usage of mobile phones and tablets minimal, if not possible, at least having a posture which does not put strain to your neck and back.
If you happen to notice such persistent pain at neck region, some basic exercise will help Here are some stretches you can also do to treat text neck.
- Warm up your neck muscles: This will help loosen the muscles and joints in your neck and the stiffness caused because of prolonged use of a smart phone will be relaxed and be normal.
- Do Stretches at least 20-30 seconds both sides: Hold each stretch to specified time and try relax your neck muscles.
- Chin It is needed to strengthen the muscles which are responsible for maintaining the correct alignment of your neck.
- Chest stretches: Moving your chest forward and simultaneously both shoulders pushing This is quite relaxing and you can feel the difference.
- Scapula Retraction: Moving the shoulder blade backwards and inwards towards the
- Side-to-side Move your head to look over one shoulder and then slowly look in the other direction over your other shoulder.
Hope this blog was useful. For further information you can connect to the numbers mentioned in home page, our clinic team will assist you.
Dr. Govind Gurumoorthy,
MBBS, MS (Orthopedic)
Specialist Orthopedic Surgeon
