3 Ways to Adjust Phone Posture | Pediatric Chiropractor is West Omaha, NE
Hey there. I’m Dr. Jeremiah Sample of Family First Chiropractic, and I’m here today to talk to you about teens and how to adjust phone posture. I don’t know if you knew this, but studies have shown that up to 75% of Americans use their phones while they use the restroom.
The Problem With Phone Posture
When they’re in this posture, research published by the Centers for Disease Control, suggests that children between the ages of 15 and 18 will be on their phones up to seven and a half hours a day. That’s per week! That’s a full time job plus overtime… What happens over time by rolling the shoulders and head forward is it puts your thoracic spine in danger and stresses the cervical spine. The stress on the disc in between those spaces can cause early onset degenerative disc disease. So ideally, what we’d like to have is the phone elevated in front of the face, so the head is above the shoulders above the hips. However, anyone who is a parent of a 15 to 18 year old will know that this isn’t very realistic for very long. So what we’ll show next is an alternate posture. When we think we can do is place some pillows underneath the arms so that Fred can now rest his elbows there comfortably, keeping his phone upright, head and neck level, thus reducing the strain on the cervical spine.
Alternative Phone Postures
Another option we will show is going to be on the floor if you want to use your device for a longer duration. An alternate position for when your teenagers are on the phone for an extended period of time is lying flat on the floor with a pillow propping underneath the chest. This allows the spine to stay in a straight line with the head above the shoulders and hips. Then you can comfortably prop on the elbows and utilize the phone in that manner. This ultimately is taking the stress off of that cervical spine and thoracic spine. The final position we will show is what we call the nosebleed position. Fred, on his back here now, will hold this phone up over his face. Now, do you know why we call this a nosebleed position? Yeah, because if you get tired and drop your phone…you’re done using it for a bit.
If you have questions about how do you probably use tech devices with your teenager and children please reach out to our office!
