Text Neck, Forward Head Posture, and What to Do About It
"Text neck" is becoming an epidemic. I see more and more children and adults everyday with a forward head posture, shoulders rounded forward, and a curved upper back. The increased use of cell phones, iPads, tablets, and computers, as well as sedentary desk jobs are the most common contributing factors to this problem. Over the past 10 years, cell phone use alone has increased from 0.3 hours per day to 3.6 hours per day for the average adult.(1) So, how does this increased use affect our health? Chronic forward head posture or "text neck" causes a cascade of effects on our bodies. For every degree your head is in front of the neutral position (ear over center of shoulder), more stress and pressure is placed upon the muscles and joints in the neck, upper back, and along the entire spine. The average person's head weighs approximately 10-12 pounds. In a recent study at New York Spine Surgery and Rehabilitation, Kenneth Hansraj, MD found that the effective hea
