Mobile technology and the reality that the public at large is constantly connected, is finally starting to show its true colors.

A couple of years ago I started to notice that more and more kids were coming to my office with identical complaints.  They all had various levels of pain and tingling in the exact same areas: neck, shoulder, and tingling and numbness into the upper arms and of course, daily ‘normal stress headaches”.  I’m talking about 8, 9 and 10 year-olds.  What do you think they were doing as a solution?  “Popping pills!”  Consuming over the counter pain meds like I used to eat “Red Hots” in the 60′s.  They were covering or masking their symptoms and pretending that they would just ‘go away’.

Recently during while I was reporting my findings to the mother of a young child, she asked me, “Well, what does she have?”  I looked over at the little girl and noticed that her head was buried in her cell phone with her neck and shoulders bent forward texting someone.  With that, I replied, “It’s simple.  She has “text neck’”  I pointed out the the 10 year-old’s mother that her little girl had a reversed ‘neck curve’ with bone spurs starting to grow – at 10!  So this little girl actually has degenerative bone changes due to Subluxation – thanks to the wonderful world of technology.  Not to mention, this child is “forcing” the pain and tingling to go away by self medicating with drugs so that she can continue the foolish texting that got her into the situation in the first place.  Does this sound like anyone you know?

I asked my little member how often she texts?  She said it was “all day long”.  Her Mom figured it was about 7-8 hours/day or between 10,000 or 30,000 texts a week.  WOW and what about all the other hand-held devices, whether it’s their cell phones, portable video games like Nintendo DS, E-Readers such as Amazon Kindle, or they are just using apps on an I-Phone.  All of this is leading to F.H.P. (Forward Head Posture).  Posture equals function and when the head (weighing 5-10 lbs. in a child) moves forward off its axis, the rest of the body moves forward, as well.  Where the head goes, the body will follow.  Rolled shoulders, a concave chest and often a pelvic tuck can follow.

OK, so we are focusing on the damage texting is doing to our children but it affects adults as well.  Check back tomorrow for part 2 in this series.

Dr. John

Cell phones, once considered a luxury item, are now a mainstay of modern life.  Most parents see them as a crucial part of keeping kids safe as they can contact or be contacted day or night.  While this solves some problems, it raises others.

For today’s teen, using their phone to send text messages is a way of life.  Because text messages are seen as less intrusive than phone calls, many teens would rather text than talk.  They rely on it as instant communication when talking is taboo and email too slow.   In short texting is very popular.

Consider these  recently posted facts by Christina Warren on the Mashable Blog,

“75% of teens have cellphones, up from 45% back in 2004.
Thirty-three percent of teens send more than 100 texts per day.
Teenage boys send an average of 30 text messages per day and girls send an average of 80.”

Because so many teens are texting, it is becoming common for them to experience joint problems at young ages.  Warn your child about the dangers of continuous texting.  Let them know that if they have pain or swelling in their joints, it is serious.  In addition to obvious problems with hands and wrists, Chiropractors are noticing serious spinal changes as well.  The forward head position that most people assume as they use electronic devices puts considerable pressure on their spine and over time can change the curvature of their neck.    Did you know that each inch of forward head posture can increase the weight of your head on your spine by an additional 10 pounds?  That means if your teen looks down as he texts, it adds 20 to 30 pounds of pressure on his neck.  Over time, this added pressure can flatten or reverse the normal C curve in his neck leading to decreased immune function, neck pain, headaches, shoulder pain or numbness and tingling in his arms.  Even worse, this deformity in the spine pulls the rest of the spine out of alignment affecting every system in the body.  Clearly we need to warn our teens about what they are doing to themselves.

No one expects teens to give up their phones but parents should ask them to think about  how much they are using them and consider cutting back.  They should also think about their posture and how it might be affecting them over time.  Our world has changed and we have to learn how to be safe as we adapt to it.

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