Text neck. Myth or Reality?

Have teens that spend too much time on their cellphone? Do they have neck pain?is it just a coincidence?Many therapists believe that there is a thing called a text neck. A text neck is when you are texting with a forward head. Assuming there is such thing as a bad posture of course. Generally speaking, for most people, a bad posture is a back or a neck not being straight. The shoulder is protruded, the cervical spine is much more anterior than normal, the back is flexed. 

I remember Mom would often remind me to keep my back straight. Why? Because it looks bad and because I was short. But besides looking bad or being shorter, it really doesn’t do much unless you have some kind of back or neck herniation. Dozens of research have demonstrated that back or neck pain have little to do with posture. A cohort study done on 1.100 young 17 year olds both male and female demonstrated no relation between  Pain and neck posture. Another study demonstrated no relation between sitting and back pain. 

In summary, posture has very little to do with pain. We’re not saying that you should flex your back if you have a radiculopathy as that would increase your symptoms...what we re saying is, a posture is just a posture. It becomes bad if  you maintain it for a long period of time. Staying upright forever is bad as well. Our body requires movement. Status quo is NEVER good. Status quo will overstress tissues needlessly! 

Be safe and have a nice posture:)

Physio Summum Brossard

Reference :

Shoulder pain and anterior shoulder
Barrett E, O'Keeffe M, O'Sullivan K, Lewis J, McCreesh K. Is thoracic spine posture associated with shoulder pain, range of motion and function? A systematic review. Man Ther. 2016

Neck posture and neck pain
Richards KV, Beales DJ, Smith AJ, O’Sullivan PB, Straker LM. Neck Posture Clusters and Their Association With Biopsychosocial Factors and Neck Pain in Australian Adolescents. Phys Ther. 2016 May 12