Thursday, December 13, 2018

Cell Phone Safe Zone

Cell Phone Safe Zone

Cell phone use has revolutionized our daily habits. Texting, email, news stories, videos are all available in the palm of our hand. Is your cell phone influencing the pain in your neck? The answer is YES. Holding your cell phone creates increased load on the neck. This increased load on the muscles in your neck creates adhesion in your muscles. Adhesion is like glue that restricts movement and causes pain.

The typical neck pain case starts out with pain in your neck or upper back near your shoulder blade. 
Cell phone neck pain
The muscles feel stiff or seem to tire easily.  You start noticing that you can't bend or turn your head when driving. 
 For a patient with neck pain when using a cell phone, we want to reduce any overload on the neck. 

How do I hold my phone to avoid neck damage? 
One simple way to do that is called the 3-finger rule, where you want more than 3 fingers between your neck and chest at all times. Drive the elbows in towards your sides, elevate your hands and minimize the bending of your neck(see bad vs. safe below). We will all catch ourselves in poor posture with our phone at times. When you find yourself in poor position take a second to follow the steps and get into a better position. 
Bad 6 X more stress on neck
Safe cell phone position















What do I do about my neck pain?

If you have neck pain, you need a comprehensive treatment plan to resolve the issue. The first step is to identify the severity of your problem. Our plan is your custom movement prescription. This includes removing muscle adhesion to reduce pain and improve function. Once healthy motion is restored, the muscles are ready for therapeutic exercise. From the initial presentation through the entirety of the case we instruct how to manage the load on your neck problem. To continue using your phone without the frustration and annoyance of neck pain, call 678-1362 to schedule a consultation today.

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