Startling statistics that show how damaging cell phones have become for our spines

Cell phones have moved into our lives to stay. Until we can migrate cell phone functionality into our actual brains, this office of chiropractic can’t see our reliance on handheld devices becoming any less prevalent. But it is worth checking yourself to determine whether your heavy cell phone use could be hurting your spine. Here are some stats that apply to the general population:

• The average person spends between 2-4 hours a day looking at their phone 
• 26% of car accidents involve phone usage
• 75% of cell phone users start their day by looking at their phone

Do you check your phone in the shower or while you are going to the bathroom? How about sleeping with your cell phone on and close to your pillow? The stats show that we are using our cell phones more than ever, and in more situations than ever. Because we are chiropractors, we like to focus on the effects of cell phones on our spines. Unfortunately, this is one of the parts of the bodies that receives a disproportionate amount of damage from cell phone use. 

The effects of cell phones on the spine 

The main problem is posture- because so much of cell phone activity is automatic, we are rarely conscious of how our bodies are positioned as we interact with our phones. It is likely that you operate your cell phone at least below your shoulders, causing your head to crane down in order to see the screen. In this position, the weight of the head is magnified in relation to the spine, by up to 5X what it is when normally balanced atop the spine. This postural deficiency leads to any number of symptoms including:

• Pinched nerves
• Neck, shoulder and back pain
• Abnormal curvature of the spine 
• Headaches and dizziness

It is likely that your cell phone use is just part of a larger mosaic of poor posture that threatens your spine at all hours of the day. 

Fighting back against the tolls that cell phones take

Don’t let your phone be the death of you! At Family Chiropractic & Natural Healing Center, we have an action plan for healing spines that are damaged by overuse of electronics:

• Chiropractic adjustment
• Development of good postural muscles
• Awareness of posture
• Limiting the use of electronics
• Calling instead of texting
• Neck-specific stretches

If you are interested in using our services to keep your spine in shape despite the incursions of electronics, give our office in Milpitas a call to schedule an appointment today.