Is Your Cell Phone Use Hurting Your Posture ?
With the advent of cell phones, the world is changing drastically. Everything we could possibly want in order to communicate with our friends and relatives, are right at our fingertips. Taking it a step further, there are a variety of applications that we can use for anything from photography to games, and so much more.
Add in the internet capabilities and the ease of which we can access some of our favorite websites on a mobile platform, and we have one of the most life-changing devices that we have seen in recent years. Essentially, these mobile devices have taken over our day-to-day lives.
While this may seem like a positive development of the integration of technology into society, there are also some negative consequences that come along with cell phone use. As we use our cell phones more and more, the tendency for our posture to decline and for our musculoskeletal health to suffer becomes more common. When you are on the train, or walking around the supermarket, what do you see? So many people hunched over their phones, with rounded shoulders, a ducked head, and a craned neck. This does not bode well for long term musculoskeletal health outcomes as the shoulders, the neck, and the spine all work together to bring us the best possible posture and positioning for these body parts.
Looking down at cell phones for long periods of time can create significant problems in the neck to the point where the bones in the neck mold themselves into a curved layout. Over time, this is extremely harmful as the head is extremely heavy and combined with the malformation of the vertebrae in the neck, the muscles can strain leading to weakness and the inability to keep the head in the right position.
Correct posture include keeping the head up, the chin down, and the shoulder blades back, creating symmetry throughout the body. A series of exercises can be done to improve the strength of our back which can lead to better posture. Chiropractors can give patients a series of these exercises as well as perform adjustments on the spine to correct its positioning.
By going through these exercises and reducing the amount of time spent on our cell phones, we can improve musculoskeletal health outcomes and prevent significant problems from developing. It may take some time before convincing the general public to keep their heads up - but by raising awareness of the risks to your neck and spine due to phone overuse, some folks may finally put the devices down.
Used under Creative Commons Licensing courtesy of Craig Sunter - Thanx 2 Million ;-))