Is Angry Birds giving you an Angry Back?

How to text right, not uptight.

It’s all simple physics! The further your head tilts to dive into the screen of your phone or tablet, the greater amount of load is applied. A normal posture or stance creates a C shape which balances your body’s natural curvature. This normal spine curvature is important to keep up because it keeps our bodies from compensating in any type of way. An unbalanced body leads to a multitude of aches depending on how we compensate. Such issues include shoulder, back or neck pain, disk degeneration, early onset arthritis, and areas that suffer so much as to needing surgical remodeling. Fully flexed downward, the head applies a weight equal to 60 pounds on the spine and neck. Your back would rather try and balance 10 pounds’ verses 60!

Physical Therapy can help with neck and back pain immensely. No need for aggressive or invasive treatments. Simply treat the neck and back with love and care by keeping up good posture. We cannot expect any kind of treatment to work on neck and back pain if we do not change our habits first. In a research case study, Dr. Dean Fishman gathered several patients from teens to late twenties, and through random assignment created one group of eye to device users and the other as a control group. The control group used their devices as they usually would. Both groups underwent physical therapy and other treatments for thirty days. As a result, treatment was more beneficial and made a greater difference to those who had used their devices at eye level. Why? Better habits helped propel patients to a quicker recovery.

With the craze of Pokémon Go, more and more people are putting their necks to battle. Go catch them all but beware of catching neck pain too or you may just end resembling squirtle. Here are some helpful tips to prevent an angry back.

• Bring the devices to you rather than leaning in. All too often we shift our bodies to bring our eyesight to our devices, wherever they may be. Raising the arm and therefore the phone closer to our faces creates a better posture than hunching over.
• Use all that technology has to offer. Siri along with Bluetooth devices help make technology work better for our bodies.
• 20,20,20. To refocus and readjust your posture, every 20 minutes look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. Your eyes along with your back will thank you. Small breaks leave room for varying postures so you don’t get stuck.
• Poise and posture. Ears should always be placed underneath the shoulders with the chest forward and the shoulders back. This creates a neutral spine alignment.
• Gain strength. Gentle stretches followed by muscular endurance and strengthening exercises will not only build your back but your confidence too. Tip: The levator, upper trap and scalene stretches are great for the neck. Dumbbell and bench press exercises work the pectoralis major muscle and in turn helps support the chest, arms, and shoulder muscles.

At Lilly Physical Therapy, we help patients live pain free in just a short period of time. Are you or a friend any type of pain? How about low back pain? Take charge on your life and call us today!425.224.2476