What Is Text Neck and How Can You Prevent It?
If you have neck pain, stiffness, difficulty moving your neck and head, shoulder pain and tightness, and headaches and eye strain, you may have text neck. Text neck is a repetitive stress or overuse injury that occurs when the vertebrae, muscles, nerves, or soft tissues of the neck are damaged. At Eldorado Chiropractic, our chiropractor Dr. Scott Dawson has decades of experience evaluating and diagnosing repetitive stress injuries like text neck in McKinney, TX.
What Is Text Neck?
Text neck is an overuse injury that occurs when the neck undergoes excessive stress or strain, usually from looking down at a cellphone while scrolling or texting. However, the condition can develop after any long period of looking down at an object, whether it is a phone, laptop, or book.
What Causes Text Neck?
When you spend hours looking down, your neck has to support the full weight of the head, which puts excessive stress and strain on the delicate structures of the neck. Over time, these injuries can become severe or chronic, and cause symptoms that affect your head, neck, shoulders, and upper back.
What Are the Symptoms of Text Neck?
The primary symptom of text neck is neck pain. Additional symptoms you might have include:
- Neck tenderness and inflammation
- Upper back pain
- Shoulder pain or tenderness
- Headaches or migraines
- Eye strain
- Muscle fatigue
- Loss of range of motion
- Pain that radiates from your neck down one arm
- Numbness, tingling, or muscle weakness in the arm or hand
Can You Prevent Text Neck?
You can reduce your risk of text neck by taking breaks from looking down at your phone or other objects. You can also improve your posture and ergonomics so that you don’t need to look down to do your job or use your phone.
Can a Chiropractor Treat Text Neck?
Dr. Dawson will take a multi-pronged approach to treating text neck. He will assess your home and work environments, job duties, lifestyle and habits, symptoms, and overall health. He will recommend chiropractic adjustments to address issues resulting from text neck or other overuse injuries. He may walk you through therapeutic exercises and stretches, lifestyle modification, workplace ergonomics, and changes to your diet.
Prevent Text Neck in McKinney, TX
If you have chronic or acute neck pain, stiffness, loss of range of motion, shoulder pain, headaches, or eye strain, Dr. Dawson and his team at Eldorado Chiropractic can help. We can assess you for symptoms of text neck, provide posture correction and chiropractic care, relieve pain and inflammation, and restore function and range of motion. Contact us to request an appointment.
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