Many companies have changed their working strategy during the pandemic and the trend of ‘work from home’ has been popularized during the last few months. It has lead to increased use of technology i.e. working on laptops. And not just the work, use of techno-gadgets has been increased overall during this COVID-19 pandemic leading to another problem that many people are facing, the tech neck.
Working, talking to your friends/family, or studying online, everything requires spending time using the screens which are somehow damaging the health. Considering the free time, isolation period, and social distancing, even entertainment has been also added up to increased screen time. The upcoming US presidential elections may just make more people hooked to their screens to follow the news. All the time spent using the screens has increased the cases of ‘tech neck’ which makes using these screens nearly impossible.
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Tech neck is an actual medical condition that is caused by an unusual body position mainly the neck, which we follow while paying attention to the screens. This specific position refers to a posture where the chin is upfront, shoulders are round, the neck is somehow flexed to concentrate on the laptop or phone screen. This is an unnatural and uncomfortable position that has a high chance of causing microtrauma. It also adds stress to neck muscles and the upper pack. The common signs of s tech neck are pressure, pain, strain, and muscle spasm in the neck and back area.
All this starts from a poor posture, health experts say. The most common signs that patients explain are a pain in the neck, stiffness, shoulder pain, spasms, and headache. Some of them may also experience a burning like pain, stabbing like pain, or the opposite, complete numbness in the neck and upper back which may travel down to their limbs.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Cooper has seen an increase in patients with signs and symptoms of tech neck. While people are becoming more aware of the condition, he says it deserves more attention.
Ever since the pandemic has started, health experts are warning about common things that damage the health and increased use of screens is one of them. Most people don’t pay attention to their posture unless it ends up really bad.
Contrary to the popular belief, it takes weeks or months to actually develop a tech neck but the COVID-19 pandemic has provided everyone plenty of time to let it happen. The risk is highest for people who are working from home. Without using the posture corrector chairs, working on a laptop is dangerous because of the poor posture.
In addition to this, the anxiety and depression have also increased the severity and intensity of the tech neck during the COVID-19 pandemic. The only good thing is that this condition is manageable following the simple tips such as;
- Design a comfortable work desk.
- Work on your postures.
- Work with taking small breaks.
- Try stretching to release the strain.
- Practice yoga for the neck.
- Take medical help if needed.
