Hello, and Welcome Back Again!
You know, I realized after reading the earlier blog that I still had more things to say, so….
It’s being said now in health and fitness circles that if you have a body, you are an athlete! The concept is that of athleticism. We really are “training” our bodies every single day, and they are adapting to the forces and stresses being placed on them- Athleticism!
Think of an athlete training. Working day in and day out, many repetitions getting their body to perform in a particular manner. How is this any different than a person staring at his phone or computer? It’s not, and this person is in training just like an athlete. He is training his body to perform in a particular fashion. No different than training for a marathon, or triathlon, or anything. Repetition over a period of time, over and over, and over.
Still not convinced?
It’s thought that the average person spends 2-4 hours per day on the phone or tablet, and teenagers even more!
Again, this is training as far as the body is concerned. Head down, shoulders up bent over, eyes seeing only the world one foot in front of the face, hands like a Praying Mantis….
What if a person spent 2-4 hours each day practicing the piano, or guitar, or dancing, or anything! That would really be something.
But in either case, these repetitive actions each and every day without time to rest and recover become destructive. The body lays down scar tissue to repair the damaged tissues, there are inflammation and pain, and more repair and more scarring…. it’s destructive.
One good thing is the physical athlete takes time to rest, eat properly, and sleep. Not so the cell phone athlete.
But how destructive are these cell phone head postures?
I recently read a study by Kenneth K. Hansraj, M. D. -Chief of Spine Surgery at New York Spine Surgery and Rehabilitative Medicine, and he said that the average head weighs about 10-12 lbs.
When a person looks down this adds compressive forces to the neck, shoulder, and spine equivalent to adding more weight to the head.
According to the study, looking down at 15 degrees the head compresses as though it weighs 27 lbs. Thirty (30) degrees about 40 lbs. Forty- five (45) degrees 49 lbs, and sixty (60) degrees 60 lbs. That’s the weight of a typical 8 -year old kid!
Now look at this in terms of 2-4 to 6 or greater hours each day- wow, people should have necks and shoulders that look like Arnold back in his glory days, but they don’t. The muscles are thin and inelastic, the bones in the neck are wedge-shaped and crusty with degeneration, oh… and there is a lot of pain, limited motion, and headaches.
I guess what I’m saying is 2 to 6 plus hours a day on cell phones, with the forces described above is OVER TRAINING, and then people want to go to the gym, or hike or do yoga? Crazy!
And then what’s sadly funny is that at the gym people sit on the machines between reps on their phones!
Basically people spend several hours a day training their bodies to dysfunction- over-stretching muscles, ligaments, deforming spinal bones, limiting ranges of motion, training pain into their typical daily motions… over, and over, and over, and over…. WOW! Eventually, the body gets the message and grows the way you hold it, just like a tree. And everything will be just fine until you want to get up and walk, look up and see the world around you, or be active. Good luck!
When was the last time you saw a statue walk down the street enjoying being alive? They mostly sit in a park and let pigeons crap on them. Something to think about!
Just so you know, we at Paragon Chiropractic can help you “de-statue-fy” Just let us know.
In the meantime, our website has a number of helpful videos that can help you.
Take Care,
Dr. Dave