By Dr. Jean Gibson, D.C., A BioVeda Health and Wellness Center Fayetteville

With the advances in mobile technology, more and more people are developing forward head posture. Forward head posture (FHP) is when the head is pushed forward of the body causing your neck and upper back muscles to weaken.

In the Dynamic Chiropractic, Vol 28, number 9, Dr. Dean Fishman, DC, noted that there are more and more people experiencing FHP due to the almost constant use of cell phones as mobile browsers, portable video games, e-readers,and texting. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that people ages 8-18 years spend in excess of 7 and 1/2 hours a DAY using some form of mobile media. This affects their posture, and can put up to 10 pounds of pressure on the spinal cord. This is a recipe for future damage to the nerves and disc of the neck, leading to a lifetime of pain.

While FHP diagnoses are not new for chiropractic patients, it is new to see the patients at risk for this diagnosis are young persons. Children, teens and their parents need to be made aware of the negative effects of FHP on their growing body and the long term muscle strain, nerve issues and possible disc herniation’s that can develop from overuse cell phones for texting, hand held video games, and too much computer work. Good posture while involved in these tasks is important, as is taking frequent breaks from texting, computer work and video games.
