How Heavy is My Head?

Bad things can happen to good people with prolonged looking down, using a smartphone!

 

The Truth Behind Tech Neck!

We love our smartphones. So much so, according to comScore’s 2017 Cross Platform Future in Focus report, the average American adult, eighteen and older, spends 2 hours, 51 minutes on their smartphone every day. However, over time, we are starting to see that, while smartphones can make our lives easier, they are causing wear and tear to our spines.

Our head weights 10-15 pounds. When we tilt it forward to look down, as we do to look at our phone, gravity gets involved, increasing the stress to our necks. New York back surgeon Kenneth Hansraj, created a computer program to determine just how much stress is put on our spine when looking down.

Hansraj’s findings, published in Surgical Technology International, showed that the farther forward we tilt our head, the more weight we put on our spine. Check out the table below to see just how much.

 

Angle of head tilt Pounds of pressure experienced
15 degrees 27 pounds
30 degrees 40 pounds
45 degrees 49 pounds
60 degrees * 60 pounds

*the most common posture for looking down at a phone screen

Don’t worry you do not have to banish your phone to save your neck. Improving your posture by holding the phone up at eye level, rather than hunching over, can help. Additionally, because our heads are heavier than we realize, it is important to work on strengthening the neck to better support the head.

Click here for everyday stretch and strengthening exercise to improve posture and reduce the stress on your spine.

neck and posture exercises

 

Reference

Hansraj, K.K. (2014) Assessment of Stresses in the Cervical Spine caused by Posture and Position of the Head. Surgical Technology International, 25, 277-279.