What do six sacks of potatoes, six large watermelons and an 8-year-old child have in common?

All are equal to the amount of pressure texting puts on your back.

 

Barton Chiropractic has always educated patients about the neck and back strain associated with hunching over a computer screen on a daily basis, but now smartphones are grabbing the spotlight as the top spinal stressor.

 

A new study in Surgical Technology International showed that, bending your neck over a cell phone to text, tweet, or check Facebook can exert an extra 60 pounds of weight on the neck of an adult, creating spinal problems.

 The farther your head falls forward, the more the weight increases on your neck and spine.

 

“An adult head weighs 10 to 12 pounds. As the head tilts forward the forces seen by the neck surges to 27 pounds at 15 degrees, 40 pounds at 30 degrees, 49 pounds at 45 degrees and 60 pounds at 60 degrees, or about the weight of six large watermelons or my eight year old son.

 

 Chiropractors are posture specialist. One of the first things that a Chiropractor reviews is a patients posture. Good posture is when the ears are aligned with the shoulders and shoulder blades. Losing the spine’s natural curvature causes abnormal stress as well as wear on the spine which leads to

premature degenerative joint disease and neck pain. Sometimes the degeneration gets so bad that Chiropractic cant help and surgery is needed.  

 

This image shows how Subluxation ( the spinal bone being out of place) results in degeneration .

 

Most people spend two to four hours a day on phones and other tech gadgets, resulting in at least an extra 700 to 1,400 hours of stress on the neck and spine each year. I do not expect people to give up their devices, but you do need to be aware of the potential problem that you may already have developed.

 

So, what should you do? First and foremost I believe that you should contact a Chiropractor that specializes in corrective care like Barton Chiropractic and have your posture evaluated. This is one of the reasons that we never charge anyone to sit down and talk with one of our doctors. Second, I would try to position your phone/device at eye level if you are spending any time on it.

 

Call Barton Chiropractic at (925) 685-2002

to schedule your free posture evaluation today!