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21 Nov 2014
Looking down at your smartphone exerts 27kg on your neck
BY
Helen Andrews
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The research, to be published next month, shows the different forces exerted on the spine when the head is tilted to certain degrees
photo: Kenneth Hansraj / Surgical Technology
The amount of force exerted on the head of an adult human looking down at his or her phone is equivalent to 60lb (27kg) – the weight of an eight-year old child. A New York-based spine surgeon, Kenneth Hansraj, will publish his calculations in the journal of Surgical Technology next month, highlighting that tilting one’s head down to check a smartphone screen increases the gravitational pull on that person’s cranium. An average human head weighs about 10-12lb (5kg).
“As the head tilts forward, the forces seen by the neck surges to 27lb (12kg) at 15 degrees, 40lb (18kg) at 30 degrees, 49lb (22kg) at 45 degrees and 60lb (27kg) at 60 degrees,” writes Hansraj. “These stresses may lead to early wear, tear, degeneration and possibly surgeries.”
Nielsen – a global information measurement company that provides insights and data about what people watch, listen to and buy – has recorded that Americans spend about an hour on their smartphones each day. This suggests a high potential for damage done to the spine.
"People spend an average of two to four hours a day with their heads tilted over, reading and texting on their smartphones and devices,” reads Hansraj’s report. “Cumulatively this is 700 to 1,400 hours a year of excess stresses seen about the cervical spine."
Younger generations of students may spend 5,000 more hours hunched over in this way, according to Hansraj’s research.
While physical therapists have warned of “text neck” for years now the increasing number of handheld devices may offer the wellness industry an opportunity to relieve these specific stresses on the spine by providing consumers with specific curative treatments or preventative posture correction courses.
Proper upper spine posture, Hansraj says, is generally defined as aligning the ears with the shoulders while keeping the shoulder blades pulled back.
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