Did you know?
On average, Australians spend 5.5 hours on their phone each day.1
What is ‘Tech Neck’?
“Tech neck” is the act of staring down hunched over your phone stressing muscles, resulting in neck and shoulder pain, stiffness, and soreness, due to the significant amounts of pressure and strain on our neck and spine. 2, 3, 4
How can you avoid it?
Changing a few habits can make a huge improvement to the stress placed on your neck.
1. Change the way you hold your phone
Make sure your screen is at eye level. This means you are less likely to be slouched in a forward-head position. The more you are slouched forward, the harder the muscles holding your head need to work. 5
2. Get up and move frequently!
If you have a sedentary sitting job, get up and walk around every 15-30 min, even if it’s for a minute. 6 By doing so, it will get your neck in a different position. This habit is not only good for your neck, but also the rest of your body and may result in a boost of productivity! 7
Coffee break, toilet break, even just a quick stretch, whatever fits your timetable, just move!
3. Get a chair with good lumbar support
Sit straight but comfortably, using the back support of your chair. That will take the pressure off of the neck muscles. 8
4. Work standing up!
Have you heard of those new fancy standing desks?
I'm sure there are a few people around you in the office working standing and you've thought to yourself... why are they standing!!
Now you know!
So get yourself a standing desk and include it in your work routine as much as possible. 9
References
Dixon Georgia. (2021, July). Aussies spend almost 17 years in a lifetime staring at their phones. https://www.reviews.org/au/mobile/aussie-screentime-in-a-lifetime/
Neupane S, Ifthikar Ali UT, Mathew A. Text-Neck Syndrome-Systemic review. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research. 2017;3(7):141-148. Accessed 18 July 2019.
Nejati P, Lotfian S, Moezy A, Nejati M. The study of correlation between forward head posture and neck pain in Iranian office workers. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2015;28(2):295-303. doi: 10.13075/ijomeh.1896.00352. PMID: 26182924.
Bigham JJ, Chang EK, Sorensen M, Chansky HA, Telfer S. Using Wearable Technology to Measure the Association Between Neck Posture and Pain During Urologic Open and Robotic Surgery. J Endourol. 2021 Nov;35(11):1710-1715. doi: 10.1089/end.2021.0260. Epub 2021 Sep 17. PMID: 33940950.
Namwongsa, S., Puntumetakul, R., Neubert, M. S., & Boucaut, R. (2019). Effect of neck flexion angles on neck muscle activity among smartphone users with and without neck pain. Https://Doi.Org/10.1080/00140139.2019.1661525. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2019.1661525
Chastin SF, Egerton T, Leask C, Stamatakis E. Meta-analysis of the relationship between breaks in sedentary behavior and cardio metabolic health. Obesity (2015) 23:1800–10. doi: 10.1002/oby.21180
The Importance of Employee Breaks. (n.d.). Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-employee-breaks-40680.html
Horton, Stuart J. MPhty, DipMDT; Johnson, Gillian M. PhD; Skinner, Margot A. PhD Changes in Head and Neck Posture Using an Office Chair With and Without Lumbar Roll Support, Spine: May 20, 2010 - Volume 35 - Issue 12 - p E542-E548 doi: 10.1097/BRS.0b013e3181cb8f82
Mula A. Ergonomics and the standing desk. Work. 2018;60(2):171-174. doi: 10.3233/WOR-182736. PMID: 29865102.
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