Back in the day:
Gone are the days when early to bed and early to rise was the mantra people lived by. Back in those days, people used to go to bed by ten o’ clock in the evening and wake up by 6 o’clock in the morning. But with the advent of electricity, that period has been seen to be trimmed by a considerable amount. Statistical figures indicates that people used to sleep for more than ten hours when there was no electricity but after Thomas Alva Edison invented the electric bulb, that figure went down to around eight.
Age of smart phones and advent of “text neck”:
Now, fast forward to the modern age of technology which can roam about, and we would be able to see even further decrease in that figure. With the advent of smart phones, people, especially the modern generation has become addicted to a new form of drug which goes by the name of texting. Young people spend long hours on the phone exchanging messages via SMS or texts, as they are called.
This habit may not seem to cause much harm on the outside but is a dangerous habit from the inside. Exposure to prolonged hours of texting has been known to give rise to a very dangerous deformity of the body, known as “text neck.”
What is “text neck”?
Technically speaking, text neck is the syndrome which is acquired when someone looks down into his or her cell phone, tablet or any other wireless devices for too long or too frequently or both. It is better known as text neck syndrome, but it has a technical name which goes by forward head posture.
This disorder or deformity is visibly seen in teens and children, the younger generation, as they are more addicted to these mobile phones, tablets and other devices. This results in not only pain emerging from the neck but can also be felt by pain emerging from the lower part of the back bone. When someone tilts their head, the posture forces the muscles on their neck to strain up.
Not only the muscles but tissues like tendons and ligaments, for example, which work in holding muscles in their places also stretches up to a far extent than normal. This straining effect causes a lot of damage to these tissues and muscles, which result in delivering a severe pain, not only in the neck but all along the entire length of the back bone which makes life very difficult.
How can you tell if its text neck you are suffering from or not?
There are many visible symptoms which helps professionals and doctors to identify and diagnose the painful disorder as text neck. Have a look for yourself and then decide whether you should take a step or not:
- Pain in the upper back portion all the way from chronic pain to nagging pain to a sharp and severe pain in which back muscles get spasms can be a symptom.
- Tightness feeling and severe pain on the shoulder region accompanied by severe muscle spasms can be good advocate of text neck syndrome.
- On pinching or irritating a cervical nerve, if you feel pain to be transmitted down your fore limbs, then you are very surely suffering from text neck syndrome.
How it affects your looks:
You must have seen it yourself how text neck looks. Boys and girls who are active yet walk around with a head like that of a chicken or neck like that of a giraffe is suffering from forward head posture syndrome. When one should be having a strong chest full of power, people with this syndrome walks around with a hunched back, shoulders and head dropping forwards. It gives a weak appearance, making the person look unhealthy and ugly.
Your head weighs around 12 pounds when in normal posture. Once you acquire this syndrome, the head goes on to weigh 32 pounds or even 42 pounds if immediate help is neglected and not taken. You look almost 10 pounds heavier and 2 inches shorter than you actually are.
Help yourself to the best, fastest and most reliable remedies:
Once talking about forward head posture fix review and remedies, first and foremost, it is very important to which things are to be strictly avoided if you want your treatment to become successful and relieve you of this disastrous disorder. Failing to stick to these rules and regulations can prove to be very costly and can not only prolong the period of treatment but may also cause this deformity to acquire a permanent status. So go ahead and have a look at the do not’s first and look very carefully:
- Do not put the phone all the way down:
Do not worry; the phone will not eat you up if you pull it up a little closer to your face. Put the screen of the phone at your eye level if you can. It will help you to keep your head straight. Phones, tablets, all the same; try to put them at your eye level. - Do not do what you do for a long time:
Taking breaks is a vital strategy if you want to conquer forwards head posture. Be it texting on the phone or reading a book – do not stick to it for too long. - Do not bend while standing up:
Bending while standing up causes your back bone to bend and thereby take a more amount of weight than it was designed to. This leads to painful outcomes. That is probably where the phrase “stand straight” came from. - Do not constrict muscles for too long:
When you feel numbness or ache in your neck, it would be a wise thing to arch your head and stretch those neck muscles. It will do a lot of good this exercise. - Do not dare to stay unfit:
If your body stays unfit, the muscles around your neck will lose their essential strength. This will lead to nowhere and might end up worsening the situation.
Remedy to getting into comfort – pillow and lying down:
A better way to text would be to lie down on your back and hold the phone up with your hands. That way, not only would your back posture remain straight, but you would also know when to take a periodic break one your hand muscles start paining.
While using a pillow when going to sleep, see to it that the pillow is neither too high, nor too low. This has been seen to cause a lot of problems especially in the neck and shoulder region. It has also been seen that an orthopedic pillow in the shape of a roll, which is filled up with polypropylene capsules is the best for these conditions instead of feather pillow containing goose down or foam pillow made up of polyurethane.
Static Stretching:
Many personal trainers and health experts recommend static stretching to be a helpful remedy over the internet in various articles. While this may be a comforting deal, static stretching does not help to treat this problem very effectively. This is because it provides only temporary relief and nothing permanent which can be called to be a treatment. What these experts – the people behind the suggestion fail to understand is that the treatment is not about stretching. The treatment depends on how the muscles move in the correct order.
Re-educating your muscles:
If you have tried static stretching then this process is necessary. If not, if you have a neck syndrome and feel that your head weighs you down, then this process is absolutely necessary, more so than before. Once your head drops down, your muscles become wrongly aligned and gives an odd look. Thus it is extremely important to put those muscles back in place and make them look as they used to be. There are various drills which can be found in a forward head posture fix DVD which will help to put your head back where it used to be.
Pump your chest and breathe:
Breathing surprisingly is an essential part of treatment. Your breathing pattern moves your rib cage, shoulder bones and neck and the muscles associated with them according to a particular rhythm. Breathe in with a deep belly; relieve tension on the back muscles, shoulder and neck. This will bring the head back into its correct position.
Mobility drills:
Once your head starts dropping down, your joints starts locking up. In order to unravel your neck, it would be great if you thought of unlocking those joints with the help of various mobility exercises. These drills help in diminishing stress on the back bone and reverts damage.
Train cervical flexors:
Cervical flexors are muscles that hold up your head like a pillar. If these muscles weaken, then head starts dropping forward. Train these muscles according to drills which you can find in the forward head posture fix download in order to strengthen them.
Massage yourself regularly:
No need of expensive visits to the massage parlor in order to get a massage. You can do it yourself. Learn to massage the trigger points of your neck muscles from the forward head posture fix PDF in order to relieve stress and make them stronger.
Correct posture:
Lastly, it is absolutely necessary to maintain a proper posture while sitting, standing, reading, and so on and so forth. If you can maintain the correct posture by the book then be assured, your text neck and other related problems will take very little time to disappear.
