In today’s world, our lives revolve around using smartphones, laptops, tablets, or desktops for prolonged hours each day. In America, while teens spend an average of 7 hours and 22 minutes on their phones a day, adults spend an average of 5.5 hours daily on their cell phones. The stats are even worse for those individuals whose office work involves the use of such devices. For them, it could mean they are spending more than 12 hours a day on their mobile devices.
Not only does it affect their eyes, but it also places their necks into an overstressed forward curve, leading to a painful condition called cervical kyphosis. This widespread condition now has a fancy name called ‘tech neck’ or ‘text neck’. Chances are that you or someone in your family might already have Tech Neck. So, it is critical for you to know about this common condition and know how Massage Therapy for Tech Neck can provide relief.
What is Tech Neck?
Tech neck or text neck is a painful condition that is caused due to the hunchback slouch that people do while using their gadgets such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, kindle, etc. It is also common among people who play video games or binge-watch their favorite shows on their televisions for hours.
The condition starts when an individual bends his/her neck forward to look at the screen. Slouching or bending the neck to look at screens for a long time causes:
- Immense strain on the spine and the neck
- Increased tension in muscles of the neck and shoulders
- Upper-back pain
When left unaddressed, the pain builds up over time and lingers for several weeks, and can come back anytime. The stiffness and soreness in the neck can quickly spread to the mid-back, shoulder blades, and even to your arms.
How Do I Know If I Have Tech Neck?
Many signs indicate you might have tech neck, for instance:
- Dull, sharp, or stabbing pain in the neck, upper back, or shoulders
- Forward head posture
- Rounded shoulders
- Stiffness and tightness in the neck, upper back, and shoulders
- Numbness in the hands and arms
- Frequent headaches
- Muscle spasms in the neck
- Tingling in your arms and hands
- Reduced mobility in the neck and shoulder region
- Increased pain when tilting your head forward or when looking down
How Massage Therapy Can Help Relieve Symptoms of Tech Neck?
Massage is a highly effective and natural remedy to alleviate the symptoms of tech neck. When you look at screens or hunch for longer hours, some of your muscles get overworked while others don’t work at all. Many muscles can atrophy in this condition.
Massage can help you work on these muscles and release all the tension, stiffness, and tightness in the regions impacted by the Tech Neck condition.
As your massage therapist manipulates the soft tissues, blood and lymph circulation increases, allowing more oxygen and nutrients to reach muscle cells. This further improves tissue function, decreases swelling, and reduces pain.
In addition, massage also helps relax your muscles, tendons, and ligaments, which prevents them from compressing or pinching the nerves around them and therefore, helps relieve other symptoms.
Massage therapists also utilize kinesiology tape to minimize the pain sensations, while ensuring corrective feedback for movement and posture.
If you are also struggling with the Tech Neck condition, book your appointment now for Massage Therapy for Tech Neck with me, Justin Shelley – your trusted Licensed Massage Therapist in Philadelphia.
You can call me at +1-267-252-7658 or send me your inquiry at info@massagephiladelphia.org.