Distracted driving campaigns have a lot of people worried about tickets, but doctors say you should also be worried about your health.
The increased time people spend on their phones, tablets and other technology
is leading to more trips to the doctor. The ailment known as “text neck” is proving to have some serious consequences if people don’t take it seriously.
Technology can be a real a pain in the neck! But, more than that… doctors say our smartphones and “text neck” symptoms are becoming an epidemic that could lead to permanent spine damage.
We may not realize it, but we are spending a lot of time with our heads down these days.
The human head weighs about a dozen pounds. But as the neck bends forward and down, the weight on the cervical spine begins to increase. At a 15-degree angle, this weight is about 27 pounds, at 30 degrees it’s 40 pounds, at 45 degrees it’s 49 pounds, and at 60 degrees it’s 60 pounds.
According to recent research, smartphone users now spend an average of two to four hours a day with their heads dropped down, this results in “700 to 1,400 hours a year of excess stress on the spine.
