We see this every day in the office, walking around town or in the grocery store: people with their head down, slumping the structure of their spine. They are jutting their head forward, which pulls on their neck muscles and on the nerves, causing damage. This posture, called Text Neck, is a real problem.

The head weighs 10-12 pounds, and for every inch the head moves forward of the trunk, that creates six times the downward pressure. This is like having six bowling balls on top of our head. This amount of pressure can reverse the curve in the neck which can create secondary problems such as thyroid issues, carpal tunnel, trigger finger and many others.

  This pressure also stretches or impinges the blood vessels in the neck and nerves literally die due to lack of O₂ and glucose. The other thing that happens when the neck juts forward is it changes a person’s emotional state. This posture triggers the fight-or-flight, which triggers the stress hormone adrenalin and cortisol to course through our body. One powerful way to avoid all of this is to put devices at eye level.

Dr. Joanne Haupert, D.C. at Inspired Healing Chiropractic, has been helping people with neck, shoulder and carpal tunnel problems for decades. Connect at 520-584-0343, [email protected] or InspiredHealing.org.