That crick in your neck you get after looking at your smartphone for a long time has a name — text neck.
The term was coined in 2014 by Florida chiropractor Dean Fishman. It’s an overuse or repetitive stress injury to the neck caused by keeping your head in a forward and downward position for extended periods of time.
Smartphone users spend an average of 2-4 hours a day texting, emailing, gaming and checking their social media sites. (In fact, you’re probably reading this blog post while hunched over a mobile device right now.)
For school-age kids and teens, it’s nearly 2-4 times more than that.
The poor posture caused by keeping your head in a forward, flexed position can lead to muscle strain, herniated discs and pinched nerves.
“Keeping your head in a downward position for an extended period of time can put pressure on the intervertebral discs and more strain on the muscles of your neck,” said Matt DeGarmo PT, MBA, WCC, the director of rehab services at Mon Health Stonewall Jackson Hospital in Weston, WV. “Children and adults alike are spending more and more time using their phones with their heads in this forward flexed position, and in the long run, this can lead to fairly significant postural deformities.”
