By Gwen Rockwood, newspaper columnist and mama of 3
Hold your head up. Not just because you’re a fine, upstanding human being. Not just because it makes you look better in photos. Do it because, if you don’t stop staring down at your phone so much, you might just end up with a case of hump-neck.
For the record, hump-neck isn’t a medical term. Most people call it “tech neck.” Mayo Clinic defines tech neck as the soreness, stiffness and chronic neck and and shoulder pain caused by looking down at a phone or computer screen. Most of us don’t think we’re looking down all that much, but that’s probably denial talking. A Mayo Clinic article says about half of Americans admit to spending four to five hours a day (every day) looking at a phone.
Holding that downward posture for a prolonged period can, over time, lead to something called “kyphosis,” which is a medical term that means there’s a more pronounced curving of the spine. The common term is “hunchback.” Severe cases typically only happen in advanced age, but that was before we had a generation growing up with smartphones. How will the persistent practice of looking down at a phone impact the alignment of the human neck as we age?
When I first read about tech neck, I was skeptical. Looking down seems like a pretty normal, harmless thing to do, and aren’t our heads designed to look in lots of different directions? Well, yes, but they’re not designed to stay in those positions for such long periods of time.
Here’s one example I saw: Most people have a head that weighs about 10 to 12 pounds. So, think of your head as if it was a 10-pound bowling ball that you’re holding flush against your body. It’s not hard to hold it there for a long period of time. But if you pushed that ball away from your body and down about 30 degrees and tried to hold it there, it would suddenly seem a lot heavier because it’s now exerting about 40 pounds of stress on your neck and joints. The farther we look down, the more pressure we put on our neck and shoulders. Over time, that heavy pressure can change the curvature of the neck.
So what’s a smartphone-loving human to do? The good news is we have options, and the best of them is to spend a lot less time looking at the phone. But if that’s not doable, there’s still hope. Experts advise that we raise the phone up so that our head can stay in a more upright position. Imagine resting your head back against a headrest, and then bring the phone up so it’s in your eyeline.
Another good option is to do regular sessions of “tummy time,” which is a term most parents already know. Doctors advise putting infants on their stomachs for a few supervised minutes each day because it helps them strengthen the neck muscles they’ll need to hold up their head.
These days, tummy time is not just for babies anymore. Flop right down on the floor with your baby or grandbaby and prop yourself up on your elbows. Orthopedic specialists say that lying on your stomach like this can improve your posture and mobility. It basically inverts that curved forward position that we’re in for too much of the day.
Not only is tummy time good for your spine, you can get a few things done while you’re down there. Use tummy time to take a look at all the stuff that’s stuck under your sofa. Get up close and personal with the living rug so you’ll be more motivated to vacuum when you stand back up. Put a bowl of snacks down there, and make it a yummy tummy time.
There are lots of ways to save your neck from a hunched future, but it all begins with paying attention to how we hold ourselves up on a day-to-day basis. Our mothers and grandmothers were right all along. We really do need to stand up straight. Slumping and scrolling may lead to a long-term pain in the neck.
Gwen Rockwood is a syndicated freelance columnist. Email her at gwenrockwood5@gmail.com. Her book is available on Amazon.