Have you heard of Tech Neck?

It’s strain on your cervical spine (neck vertebra) from looking down at your phone or bad work postures.

Think about it this way:

If you hold a brick right by your chest with both hands, it feels easy.

If you straighten your arms out at shoulder height holding that same brick, it feels like work.

Likewise, when your head drops forward and you look down, nerves and muscles have to work extra hard. This creates:

• Neck pain and stiffness
• Pain between shoulder blades
• Headaches

Set up your work and tech habits so this doesn’t contribute to your pain.

Desk setup:

• Monitor height at eye level
• Head stacked over rest of spine
• Right angles at elbows, hips and knees

(Dr. Laura shows a good desk setup here)

Take breaks:

• Move your body
• Eye circles and stretches
• Hydrate

Neck stretches:

• Keeping chin level, push your head back
• Lean one ear to shoulder and hold
• With head back, gently turn your head one way till it stops, and hold
• Lay on back, roll a towel and place it under your neck, breathe and relax

Phone use:

• Reduce time spent
• Don’t look down

How big of a factor is this for your neck pain and headaches?

Experiment.

Even if you don’t have pain yet, good tech habits protect your spine and how you feel going forward.

To get your kids on board: first be a good role model for them.

Their spines are still developing and can be more affected by bad tech posture.

Good luck!

Warmly,
Dr. Laura