A recent 2021 study found that the average Australian spends on average 5.5 hours a day staring at their phone. This month we discussed and reviewed the affect this has on the neck and have provided some helpful advice.
Device Use Causing Neck Pain – When the average weight of a head is 6 kilograms, you can imagine the strain on ligaments, tendons and muscles. This is especially the case when the same study investigated the increasing heaviness of a head as it moves from a ‘looking forward’ position, into a bent or ‘looking down’ position. They found that as a person moves their head into a 60-degree bent neck position (as seen in the below above), there is approximately 28 KG of downward pressure on the neck structures such as ligaments, tendons, muscles and bone.
So, what’s our advice…
- Let’s try to reduce the amount of time looking down at your mobile, tablet or other devices.
- If you are tilting your head forward/down why don’t you instead bring your phone to your eye level by leaning your elbows on a table or arm rest.
- If you have a chair with headrest find a comfortable position with your head and neck supported by the chair. This will in turn reduce the load and pressure on your neck.
- If you have ongoing pain or discomfort, contact us to allow our friendly and professional team to assess and treat you in becoming pain or injury free.
Source: https://www.techguide.com.au/news/mobiles-news/would-you-believe-we-spend-5-5-hours-a-day-looking-at-our-smartphones/
Title: Would you believe we spend 5.5 hours a day on average looking at our phones
Read Time: 5 minutes