Doctors are worried. More and more young people develop serious back and neck problems, such as a hunchback or hernia, by the frequent use of their smartphone. Especially young people are literally fused with their phone.
Doctors increasingly notice young people with humps and hernias. 40% of young people between 8 and 18 year have complaints to their back or neck, according to the latest research from the Zorgkompas. “A serious development,” says Piet van Loon, orthopedic surgeon. “The back and neck problem starts to become a huge problem in our country. And this is mainly by the increasing misuse of tablets and smartphones. ”
Maurice Blom of the Dutch Chiropractors Association, recognizes the problem: “I see a lot of young people between 12 and 18 years in my practice who suffer from their neck and back by using their smartphone. Eventually there may arise humps”. Research says that smartphone-users look on their phone for an average of 4 hours a day. This means that the cervical vertebrae will be overloaded for 1400 hours a year. In extreme cases this has to be corrected with a surgery.
How does such a bulging arise in the back? According to Blom, it begins with a strenuous muscle-and joint pains. “It sounds quite logical when you consider that our head weighs about five kilos and rests on only a few vertebrae. If that weight continuous hangs down, a curvature will be created. The muscles at the back become stronger and the muscles on the front are slacking by the many use of smartphones and tablets”.
Prevention is better than cure. But how do you use your smartphone or tablet wisely without getting a chance of a hunchback or other nasty complaints? A few tips:
- Take an active body posture. How? If you’re standing up, you have to hold your hands with your mobile phones up of your face, so your face is in a straight line to your screen. Let your shoulders hang and do not bend over.
- A more active body posture while sitting down is more difficult. Because, sitting down in chairs and sofas makes it easier to hang, which gives you a curvy body posture. What do you need to do? Sit on the edge of your chair if you use your smartphone or tablet. Don’t bend over with your head, but bring your smartphone up to your face.
- Do daily exercise to create a stronger upper back.
After reading and writing this post, I really began to wonder if the use of my smartphone also begin to have effect on my own neck or back. At first I’d never thought of it, because I didn’t have any problems so far. Now I know that around 40% of people of my age suffer with these problems, I do think it’s a pretty important problem. Unfortunately, people who don’t know this, won’t keep these tips in mind while using their phone of tablet. The use of smartphones do have more impact on people’s health than we might think at first, but I think we should be more aware of the problems they can cause, so we can deal with it in a smart way. The one thing I’m really sure about, is that I don’t want my smartphone to have impact om my own health, so I’m definitely going to use these tips to prevent any back or neck complications.
Source:
http://www.rtlnieuws.nl/editienl/pas-op-voor-een-bochel-door-je-smartphone
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