Smartphones tied to posture problems?
Smartphones are becoming increasingly common in the U.S., but those hours we spend hunched over our iPhones and BlackBerrys may be wreaking havoc on our posture, CBS This Morning contributor Lee Woodruff reports.
According to Nielsen, about 44 percent of Americans now own smartphones. Just two years ago that number was 18 percent.
But "you might describe it better as the fall of the smart phones, because it's the fall of our bodies as a result of that," said Dr. Alton Barron, an orthopedic surgeon at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital. Barron is seeing an increase in posture-related issues, which he attributes to the use of smartphones.
"We are straining our muscles, both in our necks and our upper backs and our shoulders to accommodate the farthest position and then we spend so long doing it," he said.
Watch the video above to see what simple cure Barron recommends for the problems associated with neck and back strain, followed by a discussion among Charlie Rose, Erica Hill and Woodruff about how smart phones have changed how we interact - especially at the dinner table - and possible ways to counteract their influence.