Most of us, spend a large part of our day staring at small screens. Whether it is our cell phone, tablet or computer, these tiny screens play a giant role in our poor posture and neck pains. It is easy to get lost in the digital world and lose focus on how we are sitting or positioning ourselves while at work or playing on our gadgets. Over time, we can end up hurting the tiny postural muscles and structures in our neck that help us to hold our head up high.
How does poor posture affect our muscles?
There are many postural muscles in our bodies that help us lie down, sit, and stand. When we have poor posture, extra stress is put on these small muscles and the ligaments around our joints. This additional stress can cause the muscles to go into overdrive trying to support our bones and joints. Over time, the continued bad habits of poor posture can cause the overused postural muscles to become weak and stretched out only further adding to our poor posture habits. The human head weighs about 8-12 pounds. As we tilt our head to look down at our screens, the weight of our head increases and can feel like we are holding up a 60 pound head!
What problems can this cause?
We spend hours a day staring at screens which means we spend hours a day tilting our heads down. This prolonged posture can lead to early wear and tear or degeneration of the structures in our neck. This can lead to muscles strains, ligaments sprains and disc issues. Over time, these problems could become worse and cause pain, loss of range of motion, or worse, numbness and tingling into your arms and hands.
Improve your posture and stop your neck pain:
Do yourself a favor and pay attention to how you are positioned while you are looking at a screen. Try to keep your neck in neutral. This means keeping your ears in line with your shoulders and keeping your shoulders down and back. Maintaining a neutral neck and using your eyes to look down instead of tilting your head down will save you from experiencing pain in your neck.
If you are already experiencing pains in your neck, PT can help! The therapists at Loudoun Sports Therapy Center will create a specialized plan of care just for you, that will help to decrease your pain, correct your posture and body mechanics, and strengthen your postural muscles to help you work and play comfortably and confidently on all of your screens.
By: Alyssa Burke, PTA
Call LSTC TODAY, at 703-450-4300, to schedule your evaluation. Don’t wait for neck pain to become a problem, improve your posture today!
For more check out out website: https://loudounsportstherapy.com/category/neck
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