IT’S A PAIN IN THE NECK BUT LOOK AWAY FROM YOUR SCREENS NOW
▶ We are at risk of injury from unnatural postures caused by our use of devices, reports Ann Marie McQueen
Take a quick look around and note the next evolutionary stage of humankind: people hunched over their mobile phones, heads jutted forward, shoulders rounded, spines impossibly curved.
The painful phenomenon that has been called “text neck” is caused by technologyrelated, chronically poor posture that forces muscular changes in the body.
Whatever device is the culprit – phone, tablet, laptop or video game – professionals who treat the aches and pains are reporting it in record numbers.
There are many problems triggered by the stress of a human head constantly facing forwards and down, including tightness and pain in the neck and shoulders, headaches and pinching of nerves that can radiate up or down the neck or arms.
As the shoulders are rolled forward the pectoral muscles tighten, while the overworked muscles across the back become overstretched, elongated and weak. Problems can also develop elsewhere as the body tries to compensate.
Brian Lewis, 40, is a public relations director from Scotland who regularly pays hundreds of dirhams for chiropractors and massages to treat his tight neck, which recently seized up again.
“I think I might have sneezed because I have a cold this week, and then I felt something go in my neck,” he said. “I know it because I felt it before. But it’s not happening because of the sneeze, it’s happening because there’s something ready to go and a slight turn might do it.”
While his office setup is good, Lewis frequently works from a laptop at cafes and home.
“I’m checking my phone a lot, with the number of clients who are now WhatsApping and the communication on WhatsApp and email, I’m constantly on it.”
The people he sees for help always tell him the same thing, Mr Lewis said.
“Make sure your posture’s right, make sure you are getting up and stretching, getting away from your laptop and moving. And I do these things but sometimes you just get too involved in your work.”
Amy Gilbert, a physiotherapist who owns and runs Perfect Balance Physiotherapy Centre on Reem Island in Abu Dhabi, said neck cases made up about 50 per cent of the appointments in her diary, a 50 per cent rise from when she started working 10 years ago.
“So many people are living a sedentary lifestyle,” Ms Gilbert said. “Their bodies are in that anterior-rotated, forwardleaning posture.
“That a lot of the time is a catalyst causing other issues, because you’re taking your body out of its natural alignment on a day-to-day basis for eight to 10 hours a day.”
She has also seen an increase in the number of children with neck and upper back problems.
“A lot of the time I say ‘what do you do in the evening?’, and they say ‘we’re on our computers, we’re on our phones’,” Ms Gilbert said.
Briton Sarah Aitcheson, 34, works in investor relations and visits Ms Gilbert every few weeks for dry needling to ease the posture-related tightness in her neck.
“Sometimes I’ll try to get a quick massage at the nail salon but that can aggravate it,” Ms Aitcheson said. “It’s just like solid stone mass.”
Rania Elias, a senior physiotherapist at Dubai Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Centre, who last month spoke about the phenomenon of “text neck” at the Abu Dhabi Physiotherapy Conference 2018, said the cases were discernible from the start in about 30 per cent of her patients, particularly in those who are clearly sedentary.
“You can tell while doing the sessions they are checking their phone, their mobile, their social media, and it’s only 45 minutes,” Ms Elias said. “They cannot live without them. You can tell technology is covering a huge part of their day.”
There is a much greater body of research into the impact of technology on human physiology in the West but studies in this region are only starting to emerge.
One, conducted at Cairo University in 2016, found that students given physical activity and postural training had improvements in their head, shoulder arm and hand pain after the corrective work.
Another, at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia in 2016, showed a close relationship between frequent smartphone use and various degrees of neck problems.
One of the major problems Ms Elias sees in Dubai is headaches originating from tense, tired muscles in the neck and shoulders. Advanced stages can include neck compression, disc herniation and nerve damage.
Ms Elias tells her patients of the basic things they can do to fix their painful issues: hold the mobile in front of the eyes, take breaks and correct their posture. She even tells people to watch TV at night rather than their phones.
“At least it’s better than the forward head position,” she said.
But she also advised them to increase their physical activity.
“You can need surgery if you keep your bad habits and your bad posture all the time,” Ms Elias said.
“We have a passive generation coming on who think that if they need anything, you have to do it.
“I tell them physiotherapy is not magical. Even if I reduce the pain, it will come back again and again.”