Right now, how are you reading this?
Chances are, while searching for neck pain relief, you are slumped over to get a better view at the tiny screen before you. I’ll admit it too, I am a techno-junky… ready for my next social media guilty pleasure. (Could Candy Crush be a little less addicting?) The difference with me is that I am getting regular adjustments and postural retraining to provide neck pain relief and to counteract the “business as usual” world we live in. We were made to stand upright. Ironically, our physical evolution has lead to technological advancements that are anything but smart for our bodies.
After a day of sending off emails and texts, you have spent an average of 2 to 4 hours with your neck bent at an unnatural angle. (As CBS notes, that’s 700 to 1,400 hours a year and a habit that has created a full-blown “epidemic of bad smartphone posture.”)
The human head weighs 8 – 12 lbs (thanks, Jerry McGuire). It sits on top of your spine thanks to a flexible “straw” we call your neck. The more you bend your neck, the heavier your head becomes. Due to gravitational pull, when you bend your neck at a 60 degree angle – to say, check out your last selfie – you are putting 60 lbs of pressure on cervical spine! This downward position creates stress on the muscles in your neck. (Ever wondered where that neck pain came from?)
In response, your body tries to create the wrong kind of neck pain relief and aims to reduce the stress by changing the position of your neck. Then the curves in your neck and lower back that act as springs/shock absorbers begin to lose their structural support. Ultimately, the discs between your vertebra have to work harder and begin to wear away.
So what can you do to provide neck pain relief and undo some of the smart-phone damage? That’s where chiropractic comes in. And not simply chiropractic adjustments (which do wonders for your discs, nerves, and muscles) but also a chiropractor that can do Corrective Care. Corrective Care looks at the curves or lack there of in your spine. After your vertebra are realigned, there are therapy exercises that help retrain and reestablish the curves in your spine. Your chiropractor may also give you activities to do at home that help maintain and further correct your posture.
It’s a process but you’re setting yourself “up right” for life-long health! If you have questions on Corrective Care of chiropractic in general, please schedule an appointment or stop by an Aligned Modern Health near you! Here’s to your health!
