Cell phone addiction and excessive hours of computer use has created an epidemic of problems in the neck that lead to cervical (neck) instability and vagus nerve degeneration. This is what we term head forward posture or “the facedown lifestyle.”
When a person faces down, as when looking at a cell phone, the muscles relax, and the vertebrae spread apart as the posterior cervical ligaments stretch and lengthen. As your head moves more forward, the weight of the head goes from 10 pounds of force to 27 pounds, to 40 pounds, to up to 60 pounds of force when the head is completely flexed forward.
These forces eventually stretch out the neck permanently which leads to the destruction of the cervical curve which can produce many different symptoms as a result of cervical instability, such as dizziness, migraines, poor balance, vertigo, poor balance, extreme fatigue, difficult sleeping, irritability, swallowing difficulties, digestive difficulties, visual changes, eat pain, difficulty swallowing, and the list does on. Forward head posture creates tension and stretches both the spinal cord and the vagus nerves.
The good news is that Prolotherapy can strengthen the ligaments in the cervical spine restoring function, normalizing the cervical curve, and eliminating pain and other symptoms. In addition to receiving Prolotherapy, we encourage patients to work on the functional aspects of their lives.
Here are some lifestyle tips we encourage you to adapt:
- Work on proper posture when sitting: place both feet on the ground, contract abdominals and gluts; pull shoulders back; and look slightly up at your computer (vs down or straight).
- Choose the right chair that puts you in the right posture: use an ergonomic chair where you can push your back into the back of it or use a McKenzie roll. Other chair choices include an ergonomic kneeling chair, a balance ball chair, buoy active sitting chair, mogo portable seat, wigli chair, wobble stool, and many others. See what works best for you.
- Look up! When reading on your cell phone or computer, you should be looking slightly up, and definitely not down.
You have seen it – a table full of people at a restaurant looking facedown at their phones; people standing outside looking down scrolling through their phones; it is everywhere! Do not do this! We cannot encourage you enough to look up!
You can also try other devices to help you look up when using your cell phones, such as a tripod, a gooseneck clamp for your desk, a hanging on neck cell phone mount holder, or even prism eyeglasses that allow you to keep your head straight while looking down through the prisms.
With your computer, we recommend using height adjustable desks that allow you to position your computer slightly higher, as well as standing while at your desk. Another simple more cost-effective method is to place some blocks or books under your computer monitor so that your head is in the “look-up” position.