5 Neck Problems Caused By Regular Cell Phone Use

If you’re like a lot of people, you may use your cell phone more than you’d care to admit. Whether you’re checking emails, staying up to date on the news or just mindlessly scrolling social media, all this time spent looking down at a cell phone can cause some major problems for your neck. We’ve talked about “tech neck” on the blog in the past, but today we want to dig deeper and look at five neck problems that can develop due to regularly looking down at your cell phone.

Neck Problems And Cell Phone Use

Smartphones may have made it easier for us to stay connected with one another, but they also appear to be providing spine specialists with job security. It should come as no surprise that rates of neck problems have grown alongside the mass adoption of smartphones, so you need to be aware of some of the neck and spine issues that can develop if you don’t mind your posture when you’re using your cell phone.

Pain – The most common symptom associated with prolonged cell phone use is neck pain. When you’re hunched forward to look down at your phone in your lap, the weight of your head is amplified, and your neck is tasked with handling this stress. All of a sudden your neck muscles are working much harder, and if you’re in a bad position for an extended period, these muscles and structures can become inflamed or injured. You may notice some light soreness after an extended period on your phone, but left unchecked, discomfort will worsen until your neck is uncomfortable even when it’s in a healthy position.
Posture Problems – While it’s true that your posture is out of a healthy alignment when you’re looking down at your phone, excessive phone use can also lead to a shift in your natural posture when you’re standing, sitting or looking forward. Muscles in your neck, upper spine and chest can become deconditioned or imbalanced due to prolonged cell phone use if you’re leaning forward and looking down at your phone. This weakening can make it harder to support your head when it’s in a healthy alignment.
Reduced Neck Mobility – All this strain on your cervical spinal muscles will not only decondition them, but it will serve to make them less flexible. If you’ve noticed that turning your head in one direction is uncomfortable or you can’t move your neck as freely as you could in the past, it may be the fallout from your regular cell phone use.
Headaches – Not only can the light from a cell phone strain your eyes and lead to headaches, but your prolonged head positioning can also lead to headache onset. Tension headaches develop when certain muscles and nerves in the head and neck become overworked or strained, and having poor head posture is a quick way to overstrain these soft tissues. Conversely, correcting your posture can help to reduce or eliminate your headaches.
Nerve Compression/Shifted Spinal Discs – Finally, all of this extra strain on your cervical spine can cause problems for the spinal discs in the area. These discs will slowly degenerate over time as a result of normal wear and tear, but if you regularly have poor posture because of extended cell phone use, you can speed up this degeneration process. When your spinal discs lose their natural height, they are more likely to shift out of place and compress nearby nerves, which can cause pain, numbness, muscle weakness and other debilitating symptoms. Left unaddressed, you may need a spinal fusion or disc replacement surgery to alleviate your symptoms.

We understand that you want and need to use your cell phone or tablet at times throughout the day, but we just want you to be mindful about your head and neck positioning while you’re doing so. Keep your phone out in front of you, and avoid putting it in your lap where you have to tilt your head forward to see your screen. Also, be sure to limit your cell phone use and break up extended periods on your phone to give your neck muscles a break. If you don’t, there’s a good chance you’ll need to connect with Dr. Jackman about a treatment plan in the not-so-distant future!

For more information about preventing neck and spine issues, or to talk to a specialist about a different back issue that you’re dealing with, reach out to Dr. Jackman and the team at The Midwest Spine & Brain Institute today at (651) 430-3800.