WINNIPEG – Forget walking with our heads held high, thanks to smart phones, we are constantly looking down.
“I can’t live without my phone,” said Avtar Sidhu, who will often get headaches because he looks at his phone frequently.
A recent study done out of New York Spine Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine found the more you bend your head down to look at your phone, the more pressure you put on your cervical spine.
“When texters are looking down on their phones they are putting 30 to 40 pounds of pressure on their neck,” said Roop Sandhu, a chiropractor at LiveWell Chiropractic and Wellness Centre.
Sandhu calls it Texting Neck. She sees it more in teenagers and early adults.
“We’re kind of shriveling up,” said Sandhu.
She says always looking down at a phone causes wear and tear on the spine, numbness and tingling and can even lead to arthritis.
“I am always hunched over never sitting up straight,” said Julie Desrochers, a University of Manitoba student. “I am aware of it but I am not doing anything about it.”
Focusing on your posture is key to making a difference.
“(When you are on your phone) try to do it so your ears are back and your chin is tucked in and instead of holding your phone close up pull your arms out a bit,” said Sandhu, who says ideally having your phone at eye level is best.
The Canadian Chiropractic Association recently released an app called Straighten Up Canada. It has short videos with exercises you can do to help your spine.
You can even set it to send out alerts that remind you to sit up straight.
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