Text Neck: The Modern Epidemic Affecting Your Neck Health
We’ve all been there. Hunched over our phones, laptops, or desks for hours, not realizing our heads are slowly creeping forward like a turtle peeking out of its shell. This common posture problem, known as Forward Head Posture, is becoming increasingly prevalent in our screen-dominated world.
Think of your head as a bowling ball. When it’s balanced directly over your spine, everything works smoothly and efficiently. The weights are distributed nicely, it makes it feel light. But push that bowling ball forward, and suddenly your neck muscles are working lots more to keep it from falling.
When your head consistently sits forward of your shoulders, it kicks off a chain reaction in your spine. Your neck has a natural C-shaped curve that’s designed to absorb shock and maintain flexibility, but the forward head posture gradually straightens or even reverses this curve. Over time, your body tries to adapt by forming bone spurs. The bone spurs are bone growth as a sign of adaptation to stress.
Think of them as your spine’s attempt to build extra support beams. While this might sound like a helpful solution, these bony growths often create more problems, causing stiffness, discomfort, and even pinched nerves. The good news is that addressing the importance of posture and the head position early can help maintain a healthy spine and prevent chronic neck issues from developing.
Forward head posture or reduced curve in the neck can:
- Increase pressure on cervical spine, affecting joints and ligaments
- Weaken breathing muscles and impacts respiratory function
- Disrupt static balance
- Changes shoulder mechanics when combined with rounded shoulders
Illustration By Diego Sabogal, MedicalNewsToday
Why Does Cervical Curve Matter?
The curvature of the cervical spine is important not only for proper spinal function, but also for overall health. Having a proper curve in the neck absorbs and distributes forces like a coiled spring. This helps to increase the spine’s strength and flexibility, which is important to maintain proper posture and balance.
The natural cervical curve forms a soft reverse C-shape, and it plays a vital role in protecting and supporting the head and neck. Having a proper curve in the cervical spine provides efficiency in weight bearing of our head, which leads to reduction in stress and strain on the spinal cord and nerve surrounding the joints. Without the proper curvature in the neck, the neck becomes weaker and less able to support the weight of our head, potentially leading to forward head posture or “military neck.”
Forward head posture is not just a cosmetic issue, but rather it represents where gravitational stresses are acting on your musculoskeletal structure. This would grossly cause anterior weight-bearing posture and is suggestive of an uneven distribution of gravitational forces acting on the discs.
Image by BackTPack
Benefits of X-rays
While use of X-ray images to help understanding of structural and postural evaluation of the patients is well accepted, the specific systems of line drawing on the spine are not as universally acknowledged. We must recognize that there can be an error in any attempt to measure and quantify aspects of the human body with imaging, especially asymmetry affects the accuracy of the line drawings. However, the radiograph imaging still provides important information about the spine as long as the interpretation includes the limitation of the imaging technique.
One of the simple things that we as NUCCA chiropractors can visualize is the gravitational line in the cervical spine (the neck). During the process of taking X-rays on patients, how to position the patient while taking the picture is important. As long as the pictures have been taken in neutral position, NUCCA chiropractors can visualize where the center mass of the skull would fall in the cervical spine. Unless the current neck situation is derived from acute injuries, bone growth or bone spurs can be visualized that have been accumulating gradually over time.
How does NUCCA chiropractic help?
Is text neck affecting your daily life?
Your atlas vertebra (C1) might be the key to relief. Our specialized upper cervical care offers a solution that’s both gentle and precise. Using advanced NUCCA techniques, we help guide your spine back to its natural alignment—no forceful movements needed.
The best part?
Your body does the real healing. Once properly aligned, your nerves and muscles can begin their natural recovery process. Many of our patients experience significant improvement in their neck issues after just one or two sessions. Experience the difference of precise, purposeful care. Let our expert team help you rediscover comfort and mobility.
