A Pain In Your Neck: 7 Hacks to Fix Your Text Neck!

Over half of BehaviorFit readers access this website on a mobile device. Which means that more than likely you are looking down with your neck bent at an angle.

…please stop reading for a second and look up for 10-15 seconds…

(I’ll wait)

…did you do it yet?

No?!?!? Give your neck a rest, look up, look left, look right…

Why did I open this blog with this exercise? Well, we live in a culture that a produced the phenomenon called “Text Neck” (or Tech Neck). As a result, we are putting ourselves necks in bad positions (Lee, Kang, & Shin, 2015) which are associated with more pain in our arms, neck, and shoulders (Berolo, Wells, & Amick, 2011).

As humans, we evolved to walk and look forward. The rapid advances in technology have allowed us to remain sedentary and go about our day. Instead of looking out on the savannah for food, scanning the environment for predators, or watching our children play at a distance, we accomplish these same tasks in our laps.

We “scan” for food by ordering pizza from an app, respond to a predator’s email (hostile coworkers), or “watch” our children by checking their latest Facebook post.

Yes, the purpose is the same (to get food, minimize threat, raise kids), but culture has advanced, allowing us to complete those same tasks with less use of our body…albeit to the aches and pains we earn each day.

A compromise has been made: using your device instead of using your body.

What is Text neck?

The simple answer: Text neck is the soreness that results in the hours that we spend looking DOWN at our screens and devices.

The technical answer: overuse syndrome involving the head, neck, and shoulders, usually resulting from excessive strain on the spine from looking in a forward and downward position at any handheld mobile device (from The Text-Neck Institute)

A Pain in the Neck: The Spinal Problem

When we are looking down at the screen (as many of you are right now), our head places more and more pressure on our neck and muscles. Looking down at steeper angles puts up to 60 pounds of extra weight on our necks (Hansraj, 2014)! See this table:

It’s Not All About Phones

Looking down at our devices is not bad by itself. The main problem is the frequency and duration that we spend looking down EVERYDAY! The smartphone keeps us locked in, enjoying our screens and staring down.

You may remember a time when newspapers were often read. This too motivated us (by looking down) to gather our daily news in paper format instead from BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post, or any other digital news outlet you consume with your smart device.

Outside of the daily phone usage, Text Neck could also rebranded to:

• “Book Neck” – for those that read…looking down at a book all day
• “Art Neck” – for those that draw, sketch, or mold clay…looking at their medium of choice all day
• “Chef Neck” – for those that chop, dice, and mince…looking at their cutting board all day

The list could go on and on.

The key is form, while functions (what you do) change.

Here are 7 behavioral hacks to save your “Text Neck”:

1. Read at eye level – whether you are on-the-go or at your home office, keep everything at eye level as much as you can
   • If you are using your phone and standing, then hold your phone up high
   • If you are using your phone and sitting, then prop up the device on your knee, place your elbows on a flat surface or some piece of furniture
   • If you are working at a computer, arrange your monitors and reading documents (with a holder) in front of you, centered as best as possible (see this infographic to better set up your workstation)
2. Take breaks every five minutes – those muscles need movement and rest just like any other muscle group. Think about this like working out, would you hold do bicep curls or situps for 5-minutes straight without taking a break?
3. Use a computer for the task – sometimes I find myself in an unfriendly neck position checking an email or Facebook. Finishing the task on a computer could be a nice break (given that you have a monitor arranged in front of you; Hack #1 above)
4. Call somebody instead of texting – I may sound like an old man here, but calling people is an effective way of communicating with people too!
5. Look up after every text you send or receive – This could be a very helpful rule for people that prefer texting and skipped Hack #4.
6. Reduce the amount of time you spend on your phone – This hack is a given. Look up people! The world is beautiful and full of amazing things that happen each and every day!
7. Pay someone to smack your phone out of your hand – I could not resist with this one…hire Dikembe Mutombo to block any cell phone activity if your neck is in a bad position.

BONUS: Uncranking Your Neck

1. Neck Roll – look and rotate your head in all directions. Look down, look up, look over your right shoulder, look ever your left should, rotate your head 360 degrees in one direction and then the other
2. Shoulder Opener – you can simply rotate your arms and shoulder like a windmill, 10x in each direction and then switch arms. If you have a broomstick (or a long handle), you can pass it from front to back (youtube search this term: “PVC shoulder mobility”)
3. T-Spine Smash – take a foam roller, hug yourself, and roll up and down your back (youtube search this term: “t-spine foam rolling”)

The take-home message…

We look down a lot. Why? Because we have these handy devices that entertain and get so much work done for us. Outside of the social issues that come with interacting with technology, a physical toll is taking place on our necks. It is sneaky, but thank goodness for science.

As you go out into the world, take care of your neck, both figuratively and literally.

Now put your phone down and go see the world!

Keep moving my friends,

-Nick

REFERENCES

Berolo, S., Wells, R. P., & Amick, B. C. (2011). Musculoskeletal symptoms among mobile hand-held device users and their relationship to device use: a preliminary study in a Canadian university population. Applied Ergonomics, 42(2), 371-378.

Hansraj, K. K. (2014). Assessment of stresses in the cervical spine caused by posture and position of the head. Surg Technol Int, 25(25), 277-9.

Lee, S., Kang, H., & Shin, G. (2015). Head flexion angle while using a smartphone. Ergonomics, 58(2), 220-226.