‘Text neck’ puts 27kg extra pressure on spine
Loss of the ‘natural curve’ of the cervical spine leads to increased stress on the neck
London: Are you the kind that spends hours hunched over the phone, checking texts, tweets and emails and also suffer from neck and back pain?
New research has established that slumping to check the phone can put undue pressure on the neck, leading to a sore back.
This is because bending the neck increases the pressure put on the spine, according to a report in The Daily Mail.
Bending the head at a 60-degree angle to look at a phone screen puts 27kg worth of pressure on the cervical spine, the part of the spine above the shoulders, the study found.
That is heavier than the average seven-year-old.
The extra pressure leads to early wear and tear, causing neck and back pain.
Tilting the head by 45 degree adds the force of 22kg to the neck, a CBS news report said.
A 30-degree neck tilt equals 18kg, while a 15-degree tilt puts a 12kg on the spine.
The, New York Spine Surgery researchers said: “The weight seen by the spine dramatically increases when flexing the head forward at varying degrees.”
The loss of the ‘natural curve’ of the cervical spine leads to increased stress on the neck.