The Painful Side Effect to Gifting Gadgets this Holiday Season
If you have a new phone or the latest video game console wrapped beneath your tree, you may also be giving a painful gift to your loved ones this holiday season.
Text neck, a condition in which the continual use of technology causes neck pain and discomfort, can cause serious health risks. It happens most often when you bend over to read text message, browse the internet or gaze at video game screens and controllers. And with the large amount of technology and gadgets gifted over the holiday season, cases of text neck will be rampant.
Symptoms of text neck can include:
- Soreness
- Stiffness
- Pain to the shoulders, neck and upper back
- A slight curving of the spine
- Increased headaches
The severity of these symptoms will vary from person to person, but tend to be more prominent with an increased level of activity on the phone or device used.
There are solutions for this type of pain. Of course, curbing technology use might be the most obvious one, but if you can’t pry the controller from your child’s hands this winter break, there are other options, as well, including neck stretches and a routine visit to the chiropractor.
Since text neck often causes actual misalignment of the spine, chiropractic care can help. A chiropractor can use spinal manipulation to properly align the spine and keep it healthier and pain free.