New generation takes it in the neck

I remember how, as teenagers, we used to laugh at our elders’ frequent admonitions to sit up straight. That was too oldfangled for us cool kids, like telling us to eat our peas and floss our teeth.

Well, I’m here to say that the old folks were right.

My body recently set me straight when it rebelled against my bad habit of slumping over to look at my phone, read the newspaper or pet the cat.

A disc began pinching a nerve, sending knifelike pain through my back, shoulder and down my arm.

It turns out that bad posture can contribute to this problem.

It could be worse: Doctors think physical therapy, doing specific exercises, working on my posture and medication may tackle my pain. In fact, it does seem to be working.

But this incident has made me reflect on how many people nowadays spend countless hours with their necks craned over the glowing smartphone genie.

The website of the respected Cleveland Clinic said three years ago that this habit is causing a malady known as “text neck”.

“Typically, incidence of neck pain increases with age,” pain specialist Dr Robert Bolash said, according to the website. “But today we’re seeing and treating more patients — younger patients — who never reported neck pain before.”

With the head weighing around 5 kilograms, looking down constantly can change the curvature of the neck and put a huge amount of stress on neck muscles. Bolash said the pressure can be the equivalent of as much as six times the normal weight of the head.

Dr Rene Cailliet, professor emeritus at the University of Southern California School of Medicine and a musculoskeletal expert, has written about how forward head posture — craning the neck — can pull the entire spine out of alignment.

It also can reduce lung capacity by as much as 30 percent, which can even contribute to heart and blood vascular disease and affect the gastrointestinal system, Cailliet has written.

While “text neck” is a worldwide phenomenon, it seems especially prevalent among hyperwired youth in China, home of the affordable smartphone.

Just watch people, especially young people, on any subway or train car. I’d bet on an increasing demand for physical therapists and orthopedic surgeons.

I am also trying to take some practical steps to ward off neck pain and hopefully keep it from coming back or getting worse. Since I work in front of a computer, getting a more adjustable, supportive chair has helped. I also have elevated my screen to eye-level height to avoid looking down for hours at a time.

I’ve told my colleagues that if it looks like I’m flapping my arms as if trying to fly, I’m actually just exercising my shoulder and back muscles.

I’ve reduced my smartphone time, but if I do take a look, I elevate the phone with my arms tucked against my abdomen like supports to avoid craning my neck. It may look weird, but it works. The alternative is a pain in the neck.

Contact the writer at mattprichard@chinadaily.com.cn