Texting is incredibly convenient if you have a smartphone. However, the neck position most people have when texting can lead to pain and stiffness, also known as text neck. There are ways to avoid text neck, and if you currently have it, there are ways to reduce the pain you feel. Peterson Chiropractic in West Valley, UT, offers help for text neck and other causes of neck pain.
What on Earth Is Text Neck, and How Do You Treat It?
When you text on your phone, you usually hold the phone down near your chest and look down at the screen. This constant bend in your neck can lead to pain and stiffness, not to mention that awful-sounding but harmless cracking sound as you try to move your head. Text neck is essentially the result of terrible posture.
Preventing it is fairly simple: Change your neck position when texting. Hold the phone up so that you don’t have to hunch over or look down at the screen. Hold your shoulders back. Think of all the good-posture lectures you’ve had in the past and imitate those, only with your hands holding a phone in front of your face. Also, try to use the phone somewhere where bright light isn’t going to make the screen difficult to see. In your efforts to read the screen, you can end up hunching over again.
What can you do if you already have text neck? First, start improving your posture when texting in the future. Second, do stretches such as holding your hands at your sides and pressing your palms and arms back, to stretch your chest and shoulder muscles, to help relieve tension. Third, see a chiropractor for adjustments that can relieve tension in your muscles and neck.
A Chiropractor Can Help
Call Peterson Chiropractic at 801-252-5809. In West Valley UT, you can get help for pain due to text neck.