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For more than 20 years I have been seeing patients with neck problems, however within the last 5 to 7 years a new situation has arisen that is being seen in numbers much higher than previously. Today society has caused individuals to become more sedentary and in a continuous or chronic Forward Head Posture (FHP). This often times leads to a condition that is now known as Text Neck.
Many individuals do not realize that the head on average weighs 10 pounds, so if you have a healthy positioning and muscular tone of the neck then overall everything stays functioning very well and your neck manages the weight of your head very easily, however the moment your head starts to lean forwards it starts to significantly increase the strain and stress on the joints, disc and muscles. The problem lies in that for approximately every inch that your head leans forward it increases or doubles the amount of pressure on your neck. So, an individual who has lost a normal curve of their neck and has their head leaning forward may have upwards of 35-50 pounds of increased pressure on the cervical spine.
The average American spends almost three hours per day on their phones and frequently that will cause them to have FHP, which is increasing pressure. Now do that day after day and over a period of years you have drastically increased the wear and tear on the spine. This is why in the last six to eight years we have seen in our office many more young individuals coming in with FHP.
There are many potential complications that can arise from the individual who has Text Neck, such as:
• Headaches
• Tingling, numbness in the arms and hands
• Loss of motion in the neck
• Neck pain
• Mid back and shoulder pain
• Shallow breathing/ difficulty breathing
• Change in mood/ energy The good thing is text neck or FHP can be improved and corrected through a series of proper exercises, changes in daily routines, and specific chiropractic adjustments to unlock the segments that have been strained or stressed and restore normal motion and nerve function to the areas. At Atlas Natural Medicine that is our focus is dealing with neck issues and we have a very unique approach to adjusting the cervical spine and use thermographic infrared instrumentation to identify when we need to adjust and when we need to leave it alone. If you would like more information on how to help with your text neck call 512-352-1300 and schedule for a free consultation today.
