Text neck

Cervical disc degeneration is a common cause of neck pain. Cervical degenerative disc disease is not as common as that of the lumbar spine but any injury to the neck, and accumulated wear and tear due to aging can spur degeneration and over time can cause pain. 

In addition to having pain or a stiff neck, many patients with cervical disc degeneration have numbness, tingling, or even weakness in the neck, arms, or shoulders as a result of nerves in the cervical area becoming irritated or pinched.

Texting is well documented as a hazard while driving, as it was responsible for 23% or 1.3 million crashes in the US in 2011.  Another risk of texting, which is not as well recognized is that, it can lead to cervical spine degenerative disease a side effect that has been advanced recently.

Research by Hansraj published in National Library of Medicine suggests that poor posture resulting from the position the cervical spine during texting can lead to early wear-and-tear of tissues such as ligaments, discs and vertebrae leading to degeneration and impingement on the nerves. 

The weight of the human head is about a dozen pounds but as the neck bends forward and down, the weight on the cervical spine begins to increase. At a 15-degree angle, this weight is about 27 pounds, at 30 degrees it’s 40 pounds, at 45 degrees it’s 49 pounds, and at 60 degrees it’s 60 pounds.

That’s the burden that comes with staring at a smartphone the way billions of people especially the young do every day on average of two to four hours, reading e-mails, sending texts or checking social media sites. That’s 700 to 1,400 hours per year people are putting stress on their cervical spines.

Black et al in their research published by Spine Physiology assessed the influence on the cervical spine from sitting positions.  Various spinal angles were measured in 30 healthy subjects in four sitting positions using a three-dimensional digitizing system.

With the exception of head orientation, analysis of variance revealed significant differences in spinal angles between different sitting positions. As the lumbar spine moved toward extension, the cervical spine flexed and as the lumbar spine flexed the cervical spine extended. However, there was variation among subjects as to whether cervical spine adjustments occurred primarily in the upper or lower cervical region.

They concluded that different sitting postures clearly resulted in changes in cervical spine position.

Harrison et al in a two part series published by the Journal of Manipulative Physiol Ther reported on the sitting biomechanics and reviewed the literature.  They found that sitting causes the pelvis to rotate backward and causes reduction in lumbar lordosis, trunk-thigh angle, and knee angle and an increase in muscle effort and disc pressure.

As 60 percent of Americans own a smartphone and especially the young are using them to text extensively technology induced neck pain cannot be ignored.  While it is nearly impossible to avoid the technologies that cause these issues, individuals should make an effort to look at their phones in a neutral spine such as looking down at the device with their eyes instead of bending their neck.