They can be seen everywhere: on buses, on the subway, in restaurants. People of all ages, hunched over the screen of a mobile phone or an iPad, completely enraptured by those few square centimeters of screen. Even when they walk down the street.
It is not difficult to meet young and old people who proceed with a very slow, uncertain and lopsided gait. With short steps, frequent stumbles and the real danger of falling or bumping into objects, people and ending up under a car. Let’s talk about “smobies”, smartphone zombies.
INSIGHTS
3-year-old boy has leukemia, double marrow and microbiota transplant at Sant’Orsola in Bologna: he is the smallest in Europe
LO STRESS
By bending forward for hours and hours, day after day, you can develop a particular form of technological or hyperconnection “cervical pain”. Immediately identified as “Tech(or Text) Neck Syndrome” or “Smartphone Neck Syndrome”. More and more widespread. Because this unnatural posture, with the neck stretched forward, condemns the neck muscles to continuous stress, which then presents the toll in the form of headaches (especially muscle tension), muscle contractures, joint pain affecting the neck and shoulders .
The same thing happens to those who spend many hours hunched over the computer keyboard, especially if they spend their free time or coffee breaks glued to a smartphone. When you look down at the screen, the muscles in the back of your neck are forced to overwork to hold your head against the force of gravity.
It is as if the head weighs more and more, until it reaches 30 kilos, when it is tilted at 60°. In reality, we should have known that we should not hold this position since we were children when our parents recommended us not to lean over a balcony because “the head weighs more than the body” and there is a risk of falling. Evidently we removed the message.
And so on with bowed head, for months and months until it is no longer just the neck muscles that pay the price, but its own bone structure, that is, the cervical spine with its joints and intervertebral discs which are worn out, until compromising the mobility of the spine itself and leading to the appearance of symptoms such as neck pain, dizziness, tingling, falling asleep or reduction of the load force along the upper limbs, due to compression of a nerve root at the neck level.
Especially due to the spasmodic use of the smartphone, our posture often appears unnatural and unbalanced. Because, in fact, almost everyone tends to bring their eyes closer to the screen, stressing the neck muscles five times as much as necessary. Thus, the shoulders curve forward, closing the chest muscles with considerable tension which, in the long run, generates persistent pain and discomfort. Pain that can also appear at an early age in the dorsal area or spine.
THE PAUSE
But then how to alleviate these symptoms? The first thing is to become aware of this bad habit and try to keep your phone in your bag or pocket, rather than living in continuous symbiosis with it. It is best to rely on sound common sense rules to protect the precious structures of the neck and avoid incurring Tech-Neck syndrome.
First of all, whatever activity (or inactivity) you are doing, it is a good idea to move often, getting up and walking, even just around the desk, at least once every 30 minutes. This helps the neck to regain the correct posture and benefits the whole organism. A sedentary lifestyle is in fact an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and being overweight.
In addition to getting up from the chair (or sofa), it helps to do some stretching exercises for the neck, shoulders and back, to lengthen and relax the muscles. When working on the computer or sitting at the desk, it is best to use an ergonomic chair, with good lumbar support and the possibility of tilting the backrest backwards by 25-30°, to avoid being hunched forward and burdening the weight of the head on the neck.
The computer screen should be positioned 50-75 cm away from the eyes and at their height (possibly using a support or lifting it with a stack of books).
THE NIGHT
While sitting, align your head with your spine and pelvis, keeping your knees in line with your hips and your feet firmly on the ground. If you are unable to maintain this position, you can use a standing desk, a desk designed for working while standing. Finally, it is very important to take care of the position of the neck and shoulders during night rest. The wrong pillow or mattress can worsen the damage done during the day.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED