Is Technology Causing Text Neck Syndrome in My Life? [Video]

Is Technology Causing Text Neck Syndrome? Video Summary:

This discussion with Activ8 Posture therapists centered around the concept of text neck syndrome or "tech neck," which refers to the forward head posture commonly seen in people who spend extended periods using technology, such as phones or computers. The team confirmed that technology is a significant contributor to this condition, with the repetitive action of looking down at screens leading to poor posture over time.

They discussed how the lack of proper guidance on ergonomics has contributed to the prevalence of this issue, noting that in the past, typing classes included posture training, which is largely absent in today's technology-focused education. The conversation highlighted the importance of an ergonomic setup and the need for awareness of how one's body is positioned during activities like typing or using a phone.

The posture specialists emphasized that simply pulling the head back to correct posture is not enough; instead, it's essential to address the entire body's alignment, starting from the hips. They suggested various strategies to combat tech neck, including taking movement breaks, using tools like posture monitors, and making small adjustments, such as sitting on a rolled towel to improve pelvic tilt.

Ultimately, they concluded that good posture should become a subconscious habit, maintained through targeted exercises and ergonomic practices that counteract the negative effects of prolonged technology use. Tech neck and text neck syndrome don't have to be a way of life!

Is Technology Causing Text Neck Syndrome? Video Transcript

Is technology causing my text neck?

Well, it wouldn't be called text neck if it wasn't related. Right? It has that nickname for a reason. So, I mean, short answer, sure, yeah. Is it the first time somebody's head's been forward of their shoulders ever in history? No, so that does happen in your body in other ways, but definitely being on your phone all the time, looking down all the time, or just how you're sitting at your desk, all of that, how you're holding yourself is going to affect the carriage of your head and neck.

I agree with that. Yeah, it's called, text neck or tech neck for a reason because you think technology. And I think the first image you think of when you think of tech neck, you see somebody in your mind just on their phone and with their head just forward and down. And it makes me think of that phrase where you make a face, it'll stay that way.

And if you think about the amount of time... Yeah, if you round the back, you'll stay that way forever. 

Yeah. The amount of time I'm on the phone, if I'm in that position, if I'm in that posture, I'm going to stay that way. Cause I'm just training my body to be in this forward head, tech neck or text neck.

Yeah. I would agree with that. I feel like nobody talks about how you should be positioned like that. We just kind of very rapidly got used to technology. And so we're all just adapting to kind of like looking down or rounding our shoulders forward, bending our backs, things like that.

Yeah,  totally. And I think, yeah, that visual Kimberly that you gave is a good one. And so tech neck, I think of people who are on their computer and they don't have a good ergonomic setup or they're either hunching, slouching into the screen or into the monitor, or you think of the picture where we evolved from the monkey to the standing erect homo sapien and then we go revert back to the little rounded guy on the computer. So I think of that as tech neck or training the neck that way. Text neck is more of like what you showed though, Kimberly, where they're just dropping the head down and then I think they get that mound at that upper thoracic into the cervical area.

And it's interesting because that used to be Dowager's hump was reserved for like old ladies, hence the name. But now you're seeing it on younger people and it's not just texting. It's people on social media, people are watching, you know, binging shows and whatnot, and they're sitting in that same position for hours at a time, even don't even realize it and the time just slips by.

And so, yeah, that's a good one about keeping your face like that. A friend recently, I hadn't seen him in a while and I noticed the... You know, it's hard to turn off what we do in terms of looking at people's posture. But he had that bump at the back of his neck. And then I was wondering, thinking about, okay, how did he get that from the last time I saw him a year or two ago. And then I caught him down at the phone, swiping through looking at whatever. And just his head was almost at 90 degrees looking straight down. And I was like, holy cow.

So can technology cause it? Yes. So I guess the second part of that is, is there anything you can do about it?

Which is funny because what Miranda said, nobody teaches you. So back in the day when I took typing classes on a typewriter in middle school, you just sat in summer school and learned how to type. And our instructor was very big on, sit upright in your chair, shoulders back and down, 90 degrees, wrists relaxed, don't rest your wrists on the keyboard or anything. And he would actually walk by and not reprimand you, but he would guide you to be, pull your shoulders back. Don't hunch over the keyboard, the typewriter. And that has been ingrained with me since then, this is how you're supposed to sit when you're typing, where I don't know if they have that training now with younger people learning.

They don't, and it's because the skills are so different. Same Mrs. Brevard shout out for, she really would like, sit up, roll your shoulders back, hold your hands. And also because you were not supposed to be looking at the keys, your head was up too. That was another part of it. And they don't do that because it's changed. They don't have typing classes anymore because everybody goes to school knowing the keyboard. They have technical classes where they're just learning how to use the apps or they have coding. And I have four kids and they've all gone through these classes. And they sit hunched over, crossed leg, some of the girls have the double cross going. So they're just twisting their whole backs, mousing, doing it.

And I think the thing that is important at the very beginning, the very base of the problem is how you're sitting on your bottom. What you're doing with your hips affects everything above. And so back in the day that typing teachers had us sit up, roll our shoulders back and down. So we had a nice S curve in our spine and now we're all a land of C curves.

Yeah.

That's a great point. And yeah, so I think the idea of ergonomic setup or being conscientious of how you, the body you take into the activity or the position. And some people have timers or monitors that remind them to change positions or to get up or Miranda, you mentioned the Upright Go buzzes you if you get out of or flex forward and and I would say, I know all of us, for example would be proponents of motion breaks or reminding your body how it's supposed to work and reminding and changing the pattern. So reminding those muscles how they're supposed to interact and Carrie Ann's example in terms of the hips and the hips of course, and the pelvis are the platform for the whole spine.

So waking that up and then reengaging, reassociating, reintegrating the hips through the lumbar spine, thoracic spine, shoulders, and then into the neck and head as well. So lots of ways that we can do that through exercise, through specific targeted exercises that we give to a lot of our clients.

That aren't all about just pulling your head back. That's the other thing. You can't fix it by then just pulling your chin back. That doesn't make it go away because if the base is all hunched over and you pull back, you're just gonna hurt your neck more in a different way.

Yeah. There's a big double chin.

There's a video of that -- I'll take my jacket off -- and it was of posture and it was okay. Stand. It's like, I'm here. Stand up straight. It's like, pull your shoulders back and your head. And then it was like, okay, you have good posture. And I was like, no, you're still like, you're still rounded in that position. And...

Yeah, yeah, it's forced. Yeah, that's a good point. You can't force it. The way we look at it is, our posture should be subconscious routines, reminding our body how it's supposed to work on an unconscious level, a subconscious level. So it's just doing certain exercises to remind your body and then turning it off. You shouldn't have to obsess over your posture all the time, but you should do enough that the activities or the specific exercises supersede the daily activity.

So that's what we monitor over time is to make sure like, okay, the exercises that you're doing, that we give you, that you're staying on task will supersede and keep you from getting tech neck, text neck over time or combat it enough to roll it back and get you back to good posture.

There are also hacks that you can do to make sure you're sitting properly when you are sitting. If you have a stool, like a saddle stool, I like working on those, but if you don't and you have a regular chair, sometimes just rolling a towel and putting it just under your sits bones so that you get a little bit of a tilt forward in your pelvis, it automatically gives you a better base and it keeps you from rounding in your lower back and just doing that, not the whole day, just some of your day, really makes a difference. And then if you do take movement breaks, get up and move.

And if you work on a computer all of the time, just looking at the horizon of like the ceiling and the wall occasionally gets your head up and just helps you out. Little teeny tiny things like that can make a huge difference.

Yeah, all those things add up. So it's, yeah, time on task. All right, cool. Well, thanks guys. See you on the next question that we get.