Healthy Monday: fighting the text-neck
Healthy Monday: fighting the text-neck
Every Monday, Limited Series gives the floor to a well-being expert. This week, Thierry Legagnoux, a chiropractor and postural correction specialist, explains how to cure the ills associated with the excessive use of our smartphones and other portable screens.
Today, our screens, our tablets and our smartphones have become the extension of our arms. The "text-neck" is the consequence of these new addictions. This expression describes the tension and pain felt in the neck, the result of a repetitive and excessive position due to the use of our connected objects ("text" referring to text messages that are written in this position). This condition is also known as the "syndrome of the head forward" and is particularly accentuated by the weight that the inclination of the head imposes.
The most common symptoms are pain, tension or stiffness in the neck. There is also muscle fatigue as well as radiating pain in the shoulders and arms. They can also be in the form of headaches or migraines. In the most severe cases, the body defends itself mechanically by producing premature osteoarthritis.
This is why it is important to regulate the use of tablets and smartphones and to think of taking breaks of 2 to 3 minutes when the eyes are riveted on the screen. It is also important to avoid staying too long in the wrong static position and to position the device to reduce tension on the back of the neck (keeping it at eye level is always better) while avoiding repetitive movements (write a long text without moving or pausing for example).
To remedy this, we opt for postural rehabilitation, a technique to regain consciousness of his body very effective in the treatment of text-neck. Depending on a radiological assessment, a program of 4 to 6 weeks of muscle and ligament stretching as well as joint exercises may be advised to overcome most of the symptoms. In the most advanced cases, a program of postural correction on consultation and exercises of muscle reinforcement will be necessary in order to regain the muscular ease pre-era 2.0.