Association Between ‘Text Neck’ and Neck Pain in Adults
- Details
- Dr. Shawn Thistle
Neck pain (NP) has grown in prevalence in the last decade and is now the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide. The flexed posture adopted by people while using their smartphones has been suggested as a contributing cause to this increased prevalence…
BUT, is this supported by any credible evidence?
Recent research has suggested that the perceived weight of the human head – normally 10-12 lbs – can increased to 49 lbs at 45° of flexion, the posture adopted by most testers on smartphones.
Previous research attempting to elucidate an association between texting posture and neck pain has failed to demonstrate a relationship, although these studies either used a small sample size, a restricted age range or did not evaluate the specific
posture adopted during smartphone use.
To examine these gaps in the literature, the authors investigated the association between neck pain and cervical flexion angle during smartphone use in a large study with a broad age range.
THIS WEEK'S RESEARCH REVIEW: “Association Between ‘Text Neck’ and Neck Pain in Adults”
This paper was published in Spine (2021) and this Review is posted in Recent Reviews, Neck Pain and the 2022 Archive.
