While technology is often a crucial part of our personal and professional lives, it does come with a few downsides — and neck strain is one of them. Thanks to prolonged computer and phone use, “tech neck” has become an increasingly common issue. Fortunately, you can use a few tips and tricks to fix your tech neck posture. Keep reading to learn more about how to correct tech neck so you can feel better.

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What Is Tech Neck?

Why Is Tech Neck a Problem?

Learn More About Signs You Need to See a Doctor for Neck Pain

What Muscles Are Affected by Tech Neck?

• Upper back extensors

  The upper back extensors include the trapezius, latissimus levator scapulae and rhomboids. Repeated stress on these upper back extensors can lead to or worsen tech neck pain. Specifically, noticing rounding in the upper back can point to the weakness of the thoracic extensor.

• Sternocleidomastoid

  The sternocleidomastoid, simply referred to as the SCM, runs from the sternum and clavicle to the mastoid process, the bony landmark behind the ear’s base. This muscle can easily be strained or overworked when looking down for extended periods of time.

• Upper trapezius

  The upper trapezius is a muscle that runs from the top of the shoulder blade, ending at the skull’s base. This muscle helps extend the cervical spine and the head. Additionally, it helps lift the shoulder girdle.

• Levator scapulae

  While the upper trapezius is often the cause of neck pain or stiffness, the levator scapulae may also be a muscle that leads to potential neck strain. The levator scapulae are responsible for cervical extension, scapular elevation and more. The levator scapulae and upper trapezius have several joints in common and often work similarly in the tech neck position.

• Deep cervical flexors

  Other muscles that may lead to tech neck pain are weak or underused muscles that allow tight muscles to pull the head out of its ideal posture into a downward tilt. This often occurs in people who regularly stare downwards rather than leaning forward toward the screen. These weak muscles are the deep cervical flexors, including the longus colli and longus capitis.

Tech Neck Symptoms

• Neck pain

  One of the main symptoms of tech neck is chronic pain, soreness, or stiffness within the neck. While some patients may describe the sensation as a general ache or soreness over a broad region, it can also manifest in one spot and feel severe and sharp. In some cases, patients may feel neck pain spanning from the bottom of the neck into the shoulders.

• Sharp pain with neck flexion

  Specifically, smartphone neck pain may be more severe or sharp when flexing or rotating the neck. In this case, pain and discomfort tend to worsen when the neck is flexed forward when looking down, texting or working on a laptop.

• Limited range of motion

  Another common complication of tech neck is a limited range of motion in the neck, shoulders or upper back. Many patients may experience reduced mobility or soreness, tightness or pain when moving the neck.

• Tech neck headaches

  Many people also experience headaches as a result of tech neck. The muscles located at the neck’s base can spasm and become painful from improper posture. Excess time spent craning the neck on technological devices can increase eyestrain risk, causing or worsening headaches.

• Rounded shoulders

  Various muscles within the neck, upper back and chest can become weakened and imbalanced from poor neck and head posture. These weakened muscles can make it more difficult to maintain proper posture, potentially worsening symptoms of tech neck.

Long-Term Effects of Tech Neck

Tech Neck Exercises to Avoid and Alleviate Pain

• 1. Downward-Facing Dog

  Many people experience text neck relief from performing a downward-facing dog stretch. To perform this stretch, begin on all fours, tucking your toes and lifting your hips as if you were pointing your rear to the ceiling.

  From this position, push your heels back toward the ground. Allow your head to drop and elongate the neck. 

  As you hold this pose, it’s important to breathe deeply for at least three breaths. Then, gently release, returning to all fours.

• 2. Cat-Cow Stretch

  The cat-cow stretch is a simple tech neck exercise that can help alleviate tension in the neck and upper back. Begin on all fours with your hips parallel with your knees, wrists parallel with your shoulders and the tops of your feet gently resting on the ground.

  Use your abdominal muscles to curve your spine towards the ceiling and tuck your tailbone in as you breathe out. Gently move into the cat phase of the stretch by letting your belly drop down to the floor as you inhale with your head and tailbone reaching towards the ceiling.

• 3. Bow Pose

  The bow pose is a helpful tech neck treatment that can alleviate tension and strain. Perform this pose by lying flat on your stomach with your hands resting on either side of you and your chin on the floor. Begin to bend your knees and bring your heels close to your rear.

  Then, reach backward with both hands to gently grasp the outside of your ankles. Breathe in and lift your heels toward the ceiling, lifting your thighs, chest and upper torso off of the floor. Gently release the pose and repeat the movement.

• 4. Cobra Pose

  The cobra pose is a simple exercise that can stretch sore or strained muscles. To perform the cobra pose, lie face down on the floor with your legs extended behind you. It’s important to make sure you keep your legs down and position your hands flat on the ground under your shoulders.

  Keeping your chin tucked, look down to the floor and slowly take your hands off the ground while squeezing your shoulder blades together. While lifting your upper body, you’ll also raise your lower legs and contract your glutes. Release the pose and repeat this exercise up to 10 times.

• 5. Chin Tuck

  The chin tuck is a simple stretch that may be ideal for those who can’t comfortably perform more intensive stretches or exercises.

  While standing, you can gently tuck your chin in toward the rear of your body, holding the pose for 10 seconds and repeating the exercise five times.

  The chin tuck helps to reverse the upper back’s curvature and straighten your neck.

How to Correct Tech Neck Posture

Other Tips to Help With Tech Neck Pain

• Limit screen time

  One of the main ways to ease tech neck pain is to limit your screen time. When you don’t need to use a phone or computer, typically after work, consider limiting extra time to allow your neck enough time to rest in proper alignment.

• Take breaks

  While many people may not be able to limit screen time due to work or other responsibilities, they can still take regular breaks to stretch and look away from their screen. A five-minute break every 30 to 60 minutes can help reduce the severity of tech neck symptoms.

• Practice healthy posture

  Proper posture is an important aspect of overall wellness, directly affecting spinal and neck health. Whenever possible, you should remind yourself to practice ideal posture with your chin tucked in and shoulders pulled back. This posture helps to keep the body and neck aligned in a neutral position.

• See a professional

  If tech neck pain worsens or impacts your daily life, you may want to consider seeing a spinal specialist. A spinal specialist can help determine if you may be experiencing other conditions in addition to tech neck. These professionals can also suggest numerous non-invasive or minimally invasive spinal treatments to improve chronic neck pain.

Innovative Spinal Treatments and Surgery

As surgeons we are always looking for ways to improve the care we provide. An often overlooked yet equally important factor are the steps taken prior to even setting foot in the operative suite. Pre-operative planning is a factor that was stressed heavily during residency and fellowship, but as technological improvements are made in the implants and instruments, seldom has anyone sought to improve the way in which pre-op planning is performed. As trends have shown, patients today want individualized care, customized implants, and concierge medicine.

An important aspect of the care we provide are the steps we take to perform pre-operative planning and visualizing the surgery, anticipating the outcome and considering the patient’s specific anatomy. Technology can play an important role in accomplishing this mis- sion but has been overlooked until now. The steps taken prior to entering the operative suite can tremendously impact the operative time, patients’ outcomes, anticipating anomalies, reducing invasiveness and ultimately, patient satisfaction. The past few years have seen an uptick in the availability of technology focused on customized patient-specific treatment options. However, sorting through the available technologies and evaluating them is necessary to separate the valuable from the gimmicks, but will ultimately add to the surgeon’s armamentarium.

One area that has seen significant growth and interest is 3D printing and additive manufacturing. The process of 3D printing includes: implants or instruments that are built laying down metal or plastic layer upon layer until the final item is constructed. This process differs from the traditional approach of machining parts, a process where material is subtracted from a block or solid cylinder of material.

Particularly, in my practice, I have chosen to implement a new 3D printed technology, the Medacta MySpine MC system. While many companies have chosen to us 3D printing to create implants, Medacta has chosen a novel approach to utilize this new technology. It is a 3D printed guide that directs cortical pedicle screw placement via a trajectory determined through pre-operative planning. Medacta’s MySpine web planning portal allows surgeons the ability to plan procedures from a 3D computerized model. Once the procedure has been planned an engineer uses the surgeon’s plan to create a 3D printed anatomic model of the patient’s vertebrae and vertebrae specific pedicle screw placement guide. Not only does the web-based, encrypted software give you an understanding of anatomic considerations, it also enables customized screw placement guides that match the patient’s unique anatomy. These guides and models are then sent to the surgeon for the procedure. This technology allows for surgical planning to be done pre-operatively instead of use of intraoperatively. It truly bridges the gap from pre-operative planning to intra-operative execution of the plan. This is in contrast to other pedicle screw guidance systems that often add capital equipment costs and an increase of operative time for pedicle screw placement.

There are a few questions I ask myself when evaluating a new technology: Is it truly customized medicine? Does the technology aid in evaluating a specific patient condition in the process? Is there something made that is specific to this patient’s anatomy? How will this technology address my patient’s specific ailment? Often patient customized implants through 3D printed technology has been focused on providing a broad range of sizes to choose from. Having the ability to truly customize our care to each patient should be a focus for the future of medicine and the overall outcomes in patient care. As surgeons, we should continue to question and contribute to the improvement of technologies that advance the customization of patient specific technology.

Read the full article: Preoperative Surgical Planning and Evaluation of Customized Instruments and Implants

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