UAE: Do you have a tech neck?
For Yasmin Mohamed, a 32-year-old marketer, persistent neck discomfort was on the rise as work, relaxation, or gatherings revolved around screen activities.
Frustrated with her discomfort, Yasmin sought to improve her situation by investing in ergonomic chairs. "I believed that would deal with my concerns, but it did not go away,” she said. Plagued with pain, she decided to consult medical practitioners.
“Who would have thought that such a normal thing as using a phone or laptop could lead to so much pain?” she said. This is becoming rather the norm as their number seems to be increasing, all with neck problems popularly known as, “tech neck” or “text neck.”
Tech neck patients will complain of a thick upper back and necks, limited range of motion, headaches, and other symptoms including tingling in the arms.
Expert insights
One of the conditions that physiotherapists are starting to see more of is called Tech Neck, which is associated with mobile device overuse. Rajbir Kaur, a physiotherapist at Fisio, a wellness & physiotherapy center in Dubai, elucidated: “tech neck is an overuse condition involving flexing the neck and looking down or forward, for long periods, at a screen or device such as a tablet, smartphone or laptop.”
She went on to say that an adult head is heavy with an average weight of about 10-12 lbs (4.5 kg to 5.4 kg) and every forward tilt of the head of about 15 degrees puts 2 times more stress on the neck. “And with neck issues, its common for the lower back to begin to become problematic as well as the entire thoracic spine. We have quite a few tech neck patients who also experienced lower back pain,” she continued.
The issue is not just even isolated to individuals that spend a lot of their time transferring documents or spending countless hours behind desks, but it has also been identified within those that work in the medical field and personnel engaged in Manual work. “Workers in these fields frequently complain about neck pain due to performing the same actions more than once or maintaining static postures, “she explained.
“Manual labor may involve people who lift heavy machinery with poor neck angles repeatedly so this may be an issue. Short periods of sitting together with a forward-lean head can often occur in a driving situation, so these patients are also treated,” she noted.
Long-term effects and surgical options
On the focus of technology neck, Dr. Ruhil Badiani, family physician Cornerstone Clinic pushed on one of the main issues and that is neck pain due to prolonged computer use. He is due to possible unsatisfactory positioning dynamic in the cervical spine while using a computer and that leads to some violence consequences: – disc protrusion, crusty changes; arthritis development. “Not infrequently, chronic neck pain is associated with sleep disorders resulting in daytime fatigue and disturbances of cognitive function. Eventually, one’s desire for motion decreases, and other myoskeletal diseases aggravated, he said, causing untold damage.
In cases when tech neck leads to a patient's structural changes such as disk bulges or root threads the nerve compression pain, then different surgical methods have been performed. Most common are discectomy performed for the removal of bulged disk portions related to pressure on them, cervical fusion or the fusing of two or more vertebrae together in order to enhance vertebrae stability . “Most carefully coding in this expert practice is the last one, used only when other methods for example physical therapy or changes in lifestyle have been exhausted.”
Prevention
As more and more people become aware of the problem of tech neck, there is a growing demand for chiropractic services. Osteopath Anisha Joshi who has won an award in the past said that the influx of patients is mainly down to public awareness about the effects of bad posture. “The shift towards remote work and screen usage post Covid has resulted in more people developing an interest in these issues as most have developed aches from their work from home environments,” she clarified.
To assist with this posture problem, Anisha offers some practical solutions to mitigate the effects of tech neck:
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Chin tucks: Begin this exercise by seating yourself straight in an upright position. Now, imagine yourself with a double chin and hold for five seconds. Force your chin inwards towards your neck. This will help align your neck while tightening your neck muscles that support your head. Repeat 10 times.
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Shoulder blade squeezes: Start by sitting upright in this exercise, then bring both shoulder blades together and squeeze them as much as possible for five seconds before relaxing. This trends to improve your upper back and reduce slumping tendencies. Repeat 10 times.
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Posture tips: Adjust the display so it’s approximately level with your eyes, roll your shoulders back into a relaxed position, and ensure your feet are resting securely on the floor. In order to correct and rest your shoulders try to stand up and move around every 30 minutes or so.
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