Doctors Say Smartphone Obsession Is Leading To 'Text Neck'
BOSTON (CBS) - Whether it's every day or every once in a while, we're all guilty of using our phones too much. And the habit could be leading to a whole new set of aches and pains.
"I had really bad upper neck pain and it was causing a lot of headaches and it would radiate into my shoulders," says physical therapy patient Rochelle Thibodeaux. Spinal surgeon Dr. Ken Hansraj sees patients like her all the time. And he realized the likely culprit after a patient confessed his addiction to Angry Birds, "he told me that he was playing Angry Birds four hours a day on his iPad." With his head looking down the whole time.
On average Americans are spending three hours a day hunched over our phones and tablets. And that doesn't even include time on the computer for work. This constant pressure on our necks can cause some serious issues.
But how much pressure are we talking about?
The head, by itself, weighs about 10-12 pounds. Dr. Hansraj and a team of engineers found that when we tip our head just 15 degrees that pressure jumps to 27 pounds.
And at a 60 degree angle -- how most of us text -- this jumps to 60 pounds of pressure.
Chiropractor Dead Fishman says so-called "Text Neck" can actually change the curvature of the spine. "If we do not change our habits we will see an increase in spinal surgery."
A new message to pay attention to our posture. Especially, if we have no plans to put down the phone.