You’ve committed to Chiropractic care to support your best health, function, and vitality. You know the vital importance of maintaining an optimal brain-body connection, and you have frequent spinal checkups and adjustments for your neurology. But did you know that in addition to Chiropractic care, there is one very surprising but powerful way to improve your spinal alignment and brain-body connection?
It’s simple: unplug. Yes, your technology- computer, tablet, and even your phone-are quietly affecting your spine and therefore your overall health and well-being.
How? While it might not seem like much, looking down at your phone or other devices for hours and hours is a really big issue. That prolonged position puts repetitive stress and “microtrauma” on the upper part of your spine. Tech-neck is the term that refers to the strain in your neck and shoulder muscles that develop from craning your neck down too often when you are looking at a phone, tablet, or computer. This unnatural position can also result in neck aches, stiff shoulders, overall body soreness, and damage to your spine.
Here are the best ways to help prevent tech-neck and optimize your spinal alignment and brain-body connection while using technology:
- Unplug: While it can be challenging in our always-on, constantly connected modern lifestyles, taking frequent breaks away from devices to move, breathe, and interact with your surroundings can have a huge impact on your health. Consider setting personal limits on the amount of time you spend on your phone and other devices for non-essential activities. By unplugging, you will find more time to reconnect with nature.
- Pay attention to posture: Keep your head up and back straight, avoid slouching, and keep your feet firmly on the floor or a footrest with your knees lower than your hips.
- Look up: When using your phone, bring your arms up so that the screen is at eye level, instead of looking down. When using a tablet or computer, look down with your eyes only and keep your head up.
Remember, even with these tips it’s still best to follow your recommended plan of Chiropractic care and to discuss any issues or habits that may affect your spinal nervous system with your Chiropractor. We are here to help you optimize your brain-body connection to support your body’s natural expression of your best health, function, and vitality- Power’s ON!
