You + Smartphone = ?

Part One

Written by Tanya Houpt

What do these things have in common?

Headaches
Shoulder pain
Neck pain
Painful breathing
Upper back pain

Numbness and tingling of the arms
Mid back pain
Arm pain
Thumb and wrist pain

Your smartphone!

…and how many symptoms do you experience?

Abnormal postures, caused by smartphone use, have various labels, Text Neck, Text Postural Dysfunction and Smartphone Syndrome, to name a few. Regardless of the name, repetition of forward flexion, (bending), of the head and neck, cause overstretching of the upper back, mid back, and neck muscles, while the chest muscles over contract. With time, our posture changes and unintentionally, we find ourselves with a maladapted abnormal posture.

So, what’s the big deal if our posture changes?

Mmmmmm! Where do I start?! Firstly, we were cleverly created with specific curves in our spine to help transfer the load on the spine correctly. Maladapted postures, at the very least, cause strain, irritating soft tissue, (muscles, tendons, ligaments etc), and cause inflammation and pain. At the worst, incorrect postures can lead to disc movement, pinched nerves, and nerve root inflammation. We need the ‘natural’ curve of the neck!

Of course, the amount of time, and the way you use your smartphone, will dictate the extent of postural changes. On average, we spend 3 hours and 15 minutes daily (1186hrs yearly) on our smartphones, and one in five uses average 4.5 hours daily (1642hrs yearly). For our younger population, these numbers are at least doubled!!!

The average person spends 3 hours and 15 minutes on their smart phone each day

So, what is it that we are actually doing, that causes the damage?

Our heads weigh more than you might think. The further we flex, (bend), our necks, the heavier our heads become. Imagine your neck trying to hold a 27kg head up for 3hrs a day, it’s just too heavy. The weight of the head hangs from the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones in the neck, ouch! Just try bending a finger back as far as you can and holding it for 30mins – no doubt you will feel the strain and pain well before 30mins is up.

Sitting vs standing… Sitting is worse!

There is an increase in forward head movement and flexion when sitting
The shift in the head and neck angle is greater than if standing
The ‘watching’ distance is generally closer than when standing
When two handed typing the phone is closer than when standing
Generally sitting will produce more neck flexion resulting in more neck and upper trapezuis pain than standing

Texting while sitting is worse than if standing. In fact texting has the worst neck flexion angle, more so than webrowsing and video watching

One or two hands… Two is better

Two handed use has less flexion and side movements than one hand
In general one hand, (assuming most are right dominant), has more left lateral flexion than two hands
Watching and reading while standing using one hand increases left lateral flexion

General

For those who already have neck and shoulder pain, there is significantly more muscle activity in the neck and upper trapezius muscles, than those without pain
For those with low back pain, (LBP), there is likely to be an increase in thoracic kyphosis (rounding of the upper spine) than those without LBP
Texting while walking is the most physically demanding task on the neck muscles