More and more people are text messaging, playing on their mobile
phones, surfing the Internet, checking emails, and playing video
games on a regular basis. This is truly the age of technology.
However, with these technologies comes the repetitive behaviors and
body positioning that can have dramatic health consequences.
These days, more people than ever before are constantly “connected”
to their hand held devices and computers. Just think about it the
amount of hours you and people you know spend with your head down,
neck scrunched, staring at a mobile phone or laptop.
And this is not just happening with adults. It’s actually WORSE
with teens. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that young
people 8-18 years old spend in excess of 7 ½ hours a day using some
form of mobile media.
As a result of the amount of time people are using their mobile
phones and computers, people are starting to experience neck pain,
headaches, shoulder pain, and/or numbness and tingling into the
arms and hands. The reason are starting to get pain is the
constant use of phones and computers is changing your posture. It
is a common condition called forward head posture (FHP), which can
cause the symptoms I just mentioned plus a whole lot more.
It’s important to understand that where the head goes, the body
will follow. If you are constantly looking down at your phone or
computer and develop forward head posture, then you will have
rolled shoulders. With rolled shoulders, a concave chest will
follow, and often a pelvic tuck, all of which can contribute to
pain and dysfunction over time.
Here are some other facts about forward head posture:
- Long term forward neck posture leads to “long term muscle strain,
disc herniations, and pinched nerves.” (Mayo Clinic Health Letter,
March 2000) - For every inch of forward head posture, it can increase the
weight of the head on the spine by an additional 10 pounds.
(Kapandji, Physiology of the Joints, Volume 3) - Loss of the cervical curve stretches the spinal cord 5-7 cm and
causes disease. (Dr. Alf Breig, neurosurgeon and Nobel Prize
recipient) - Forward Head Postures has been shown to flatten the normal neck
curve, resulting in disc compression, damage, and early arthritis.
(Spine, 1986) - 90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by
the movement of the spine. When you have forward head posture,
your brain will rob energy from your thinking, metabolism, and
immune function to deal with abnormal gravity/posture issues. (Dr.
Roger Sperry, Nobel Prize recipient for brain research)
So as you can see, when your posture changes, it can have very
dramatic effects to your health. Because of this, it’s very
important that you determine how many hours you and your family
members are spending in a forward head posture, looking down at
mobile phones and computers.
And if you are spending a lot of time with forward head posture,
then you need to make sure you are getting regular chiropractic
adjustments and doing exercises to make sure your posture does not
change. Because if it does, you will be facing some potentially
serious health problems.
Email me if you have any questions or comments and I’ll see you
soon!
Sincerely,
Dr. Justin Trosclair
Source: To Your Health, July 2010
http://www.performancechiropracticwestminsterco.com/testimonials.html
