Does Your Teenager Slouch While on Their Cell Phones?

Everywhere you look, you see teens and adults hunched over their cell phones. As a parent you are concerned and worried how this might affect their posture.

Smartphones can possibly be ruining our posture and many suffer from what is known as “text neck”. The average head of a person weighs about 10 to 12 pounds. When we use our phones, we tend to bend our necks forward approximately 60 degrees, the stress on our neck increases to 60 pounds which can be compared to five gallons of paint.

Thirty years ago doctors would see the “dowagers” hump in older adults now they’re seeing the same stoop in teenagers.

Slouching not only affects our posture, but it seems to have an effect on our emotional state and memory. Sitting upright may have a positive influence on helping a person develop a resilience to stress.

There seems to be a relationship between the size of the electronic device and how much of an effect it has on you. The smaller device you’re using, such as a cell phone, the more a person must contract their body to use it.

We have become far too dependent on our cell phones, laptops and ipads to simply just give them up. Read below for tips on how to combat slouching and fight the “hunch”.

One of the first and simplest things you can do is to keep your head and shoulders back anytime you’re looking at your phone. Even if that means you need to hold it at eye level. If you sit back make sure to still keep the device at eye level.

Remember to always keep feet flat on the floor, roll shoulders back with yours ears being kept directly over shoulders. Buy a headset, use a docking station and perhaps wrist guards to help support the full weight of the electronic device.

Probably the most important thing you can remember to do is to take frequent breaks from any electronic device you’re using. Stand up, roll your shoulders and neck every 20 minutes.

Here at Stanford Chiropractic Center, not only want to help you manage your long term pain but we also want to help in prevention, such as the case of slouching in teenagers.

Call us today at (650) 326-7000 to see how we can help and set up a Free Consultation today.