Your Mother always said “sit up straight and eat your vegetables”. When you don’t do that it can come back to haunt you!
Problems with phone use and texting:
1) Slumped upper back (hunch back) and forward head posture occur due to the person looking down at the phone for extended periods.
2) The deep neck flexor muscles (longus coli and longus capitus) in the front of the neck get weak due to the head being forward with chin jutted out. (IMPORTANT)
3) The muscles in the back of the neck (subocciptials) get very tight and hard.
4) Shoulder blade (scapula) muscles and upper back get weak due to overstretching of this area from the slumped posture. The shoulder blades tend to wing out.
5) Repetitive motion trauma to the thumbs can occur due to the high repetitions of keystrokes. Your thumb is used in 60% of all hand movements that are performed daily.
Prevention of pain and weakness of the neck, upper back and thumbs.
“Think tall when talking on the phone and bring the phone up to the chest height so you can look straight ahead when texting”. Start now when your phone rings or when you get your next text.
Carol is a physical therapist, Clinical Specialist Level II and certified orthopedic manual therapist (C.O.M.T) specializing in manual therapy for the spine and extremities with 31 years experience. She also serves as chairperson for the Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Quality Assurance Committee and is an APTA certified clinical instructor and faculty member in the orthopedic residency program. Carol has special interest in dance and gymnastic injuries and ergonomics program development for individuals and companies.
To make an appointment with Carol or another OrthoCarolina provider visit OrthoCarolina's website
