Do You Have Tech Neck? How to Find Relief

Working from home, mobile phones, laptops. All creating a mobile workforce and a generation of kids with Tech Neck. If you’re like most people these days, you probably spend a significant amount of time hunched over your computer, phone, or tablet screen for work or leisure. This posture, nicknamed “tech neck,” can take a real toll. When your head is angled forward, it puts strain on your neck and back muscles and can lead to pain, spasms, and even early wear and tear on spinal disks over time. We see the way tech neck can lead to additional problems. 

Your Head Weighs As Much As a Bowling Ball

The problem is only intensified when you consider that the average adult head weighs 10 to 12 pounds. Bend your neck forward just 15 degrees for prolonged periods and the effective weight feels closer to 27 pounds. Bend it forward 60 degrees to gaze down at your phone and it’s like carrying a 60-pound bowling ball around your neck all day long! No wonder so many of us have nagging neck soreness and stiffness.

Fortunately, with some awareness and proactive steps, you can find tech neck relief. We have a few quick and easy stretch recommendations that can counteract tech neck. For example:

• Slowly tilt your head side to side, toward each shoulder, feeling the stretch up the opposite side of the neck. Repeat 5 times per side.

• Gently tilt your head forward, trying to touch chin down towards chest, then tilt head back as far as comfortable. Repeat 5 times.

Check out the full list of 6 recommended stretches in this article [link to Washington Post article]. Performing these simple stretches just a few minutes per day can provide some blessed tech neck relief.

For lasting results, be sure you also reevaluate your workstation setup, posture habits, and screen time. Consider investing in professional advice from a physical therapist or ergonomics consultant too. Just like other body parts, our neck health requires some ongoing maintenance to withstand modern life’s demands. But with a little diligence to break up stationary screen gazing and loosening those tense muscles, you can stay comfortable even in our tech-centric world.

So what can you do? We recommend a series of stretches. Want to fix the problem? A combination of physical therapy, tech set up at home and discipline can help mitigate the problem. Our team is here for you. And your children! Article from the Washington Post HERE.