Do you notice more frequent or more varied aches and pains than you experienced in the past? What do you do to help alleviate them? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
You wake up once again to a nagging pain in your neck, a stiff shoulder or tingling in your arms and hands. The first time it happened, you thought you had just slept awkwardly, but the lingering stiffness and discomfort – and the frequent headaches -- now have you thinking there is something else going on. You might be right, and the culprit may just be your cell phone.
A growing number of women over 40 are finding themselves facing a surgeon's knife as a result of their technology habits. It turns out many of us are being diagnosed with a condition known as tech neck, or chronic pain and soreness in the shoulders and neck area due to the effects on our posture of looking down at our smart devices. Tech neck is a form of cervical kyphosis, a condition in which the neck curves forward abnormally. Cervical kyphosis can also be caused by things other than poor posture, such as arthritis and osteoporosis.
While pain relievers, physical therapy and steroid injections are among the methods of treating tech neck, in extreme situations a major surgery called anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) may also be recommended. The goal of the surgery is to take pressure off of the nerves around the spinal cord in your neck by removing a damaged disc from the neck and then welding together the bones that the disc once separated.
Wendy Perry, a 53-year-old retired army nurse in Evans, Georgia, underwent ACDF surgery in September of 2023 after more than 10 years of chronic pain in her neck and shoulder. While her condition wasn’t solely caused by her use of digital devices, she believes that was a contributing factor. She decided to have the surgery when her pain started hampering her quality of life. “It had gotten to the point where I had numbness and tingling in my hands from my neck to my shoulder, down to my fingers,” she says. Her condition also affected her dexterity: “I couldn't carry certain things.”
Recovery can be challenging and can take as long as a year. For Perry, recovery took between four and six months. At first, she had to wear a neck brace and sleep on a recliner because it was painful to lay flat in her bed. “It was difficult to get comfortable and to keep everything aligned the way it's supposed to be,” she says. However, the neck brace came off in a couple of months and she gradually was able to do more activities. While it was an ordeal, she says it was worth it. “I feel great now,” she says.
A growing phenomenon
Researchers predict that ACDF surgeries will increase between now and 2040, particularly in the 45-54 and 75-84 age groups. Those age groups are now experiencing the consequences of decades of technology usage.
We can blame the phenomenon of tech neck on the size and weight of our heads. The average adult head weighs between 10 and 12 pounds but when you lean forward at a 45-degree angle, the pressure on your neck feels closer to 50 pounds, according to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. So, when you hunch over to watch your preacher each Sunday on Facebook Live or squint to look at your aunt on the family zoom call, those actions can contribute to the wearing away of the cushioning of the spine or even cause curvature of the spine and a loss of mobility.
If you're thinking you could hardly be spending enough time using your smartphone to inflict such damage, consider that Americans spend, on average, four hours and 37 minutes a day looking at their smartphone screens, according to a 2024 survey by health data management company Harmony Healthcare IT. We often like to say it's our kids and grandkids who are tethered to their phones, but Gen Xers spend, on average, four hours and nine minutes a day staring at their phones while baby boomers spend three hours and 31 minutes a day.
Prevention is the best medicine
Now that I've scared you, here's the good news. There are steps we can take to reduce our chances of suffering with tech neck without giving up our phones – because we all know we're not going to do that.
Movement is one way to potentially keep tech neck at bay, says Cassandra Cureton, a yoga instructor in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tech neck has everything to do with poor posture, Cureton says, "and yoga is completely connected to good posture."
You don't have to do a full yoga routine to build flexibility in your shoulder and neck area. Rather you can take a few minutes a day to do a couple of neck and shoulder stretches to keep your muscles loose and in alignment, Cureton says. She offers three stretches to get started:
Stretch one: While either sitting or standing, bring one arm back behind you, like you're patting yourself on the back and then bring the other arm behind you and try to link the fingers. Linking the fingers helps you to bring the chest forward. Hold that position for several minutes.
Stretch two: Drop the right ear toward the right shoulder and hold it there. You'll feel the stretch on the left side of the neck. Then bring your face forward. Then drop the left ear toward the left shoulder and hold it there. Then bring your face downward and tuck in your chin. While still looking downward, move your face as though you're tracing your collarbone and then look over your right shoulder. Then tuck that chin in again and move your face as though you're tracing the collarbone to the left side and look over the left shoulder, and then bring your face back to the center and raise your gaze.
Stretch three: Place your hands at the back of your head. Relax the shoulders. Then tilt your chin upward. Hold that pose.
Other ways to prevent tech neck
The way you use your phone and other devices can also make a difference. Here are other ways you can protect yourself from tech neck:
● When using a computer keep the screen about an arm's length from your eyes.
● Take frequent breaks from using devices.
● Life your device close to eye level so your neck is not tilted down.
● Hold your device with both hands.
● Ask your loved ones to remind you to straighten up if they see you slumping over your device.
Do you notice more frequent or more varied aches and pains than you experienced in the past? What do you do to help alleviate them? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
