TIPS TO CORRECT YOUR BINGE-WATCHING AND TEXTING POSTURE

Featured Article for St Dunstans Collage.

TIPS TO CORRECT YOUR BINGE-WATCHING POSTURE

• Take a break every 30 minutes to stretch or walk around
• Don’t turn your neck towards the screen. Your neck should be relaxed, eyes facing forward.
• Keep your lower back supported (sit with your back against the couch).
• Watching from a laptop in bed: support your back with pillows, bend the knees and place a pillow on your knees. Rest the laptop on your legs to prevent back and neck pain from slumping.

TIPS TO CORRECT YOUR TEXTING POSTURE

The human head weighs about 5 kg. For every 1 cm you bend your neck forward, the weight placed on the spine is increased by about 2 kg. The cervical spine is not equipped to carry this amount of weight. Text neck is associated with neck pain, shoulder pain and severe tension headaches.

HOW DO WE PREVENT THIS?

• Make sure to bend your neck from the base of your skull, this can be done by slightly tucking the chin towards the chest and keeping the shoulders relaxed.
• Raise the phone to eye level so your head doesn’t have to bend forward.
• Try to regularly stay active. Stiffness in the body often arises from a lack of oxygen and blood flow.
• Try to exercise during the day, when you’re taking breaks, to reduce the tension associated with working on devices for prolonged periods.

Kirsty Roux Biokinetics would like to thank St Dunstans for the opportunity to have shared our Biokinetics knowledge  with the St Dunstans community.