The way you text may harm your spine: Study

By Staff Reporter - 20 Nov '14 15:54PM

According to a new study by spine surgeon Dr Kenneth Hansraj looking down at our phones is the equivalent of having around 60 pounds worth of weight on your neck.

A recently-published study in the Surgical Technology International found the extra strain caused by leaning your head forward can lead to "early wear, tear, degeneration, and possibly surgeries."

When you bend your neck at a 15-degree angle, the weight is about 27 pounds, at 30 degrees it's 40 pounds, at 45 degrees it's 49 pounds, and at 60 degrees it's 60 pounds.

"You can call it an epidemic," Dr. Ken Hansraj, a spinal and orthopedic surgeon in Poughkeepsie, New York, who published the study told TODAY. "Just look around. People are heads down into their phones, especially teenagers."

He said he sees patients every day who are having back and neck pain that can be explained by the amount of time they spend hunched over their devices.

According to Nielsen, Americans spend about an hour on their smartphones each day. Unless you train yourself to stare straight ahead into your iPhone screen, you could be continually stressing your spine.

"These stresses," Hansraj writes, "may lead to early wear, tear, degeneration, and possibly surgeries."

Here are his tips for avoiding neck pain when using your smartphone:

You don't have to necessarily bring your device up to eye level, he said. Your eyes have a range of motion, which allows you to look down at your phone without tilting your head.

To keep the joints in your neck limber, move your head from left to right several times and touch your ear to your shoulder on both sides, Hansraj said.

Another simple exercise is to place your hands on your head to provide some resistance as you push your head forward, and do the same as your push your head back. This strengthens the ligaments and muscles that support your neck, he noted.

Finally, when standing in a doorway, extend your arms and push your chest forward. This stretches and strengthens "the muscles of good posture," Hansraj said.