People spend between two and four hours a day with their heads down on their smartphones reading and texting. A deleterious position for the back, according to a study published in Surgical Technology International.
Many studies are alerting to the effects of cell phone waves on our health (brain glioma, fertility disorder). A new study shows that the mobile can also have effects on… our back.
This is shown by a study published in early November in Surgical Technology International (in English), and headed by New York orthopedic surgeon, Kenneth Hansraj. The cause ? Lowering your head to look at your phone screen would add up to 27 kilograms on your neck and spine.
The study shows that the more you lower your head, the heavier it is on your shoulders: if your head weighs about 4.5 kilos in a natural way, lowering your head by 30 degrees causes the weight of your head to drop to 18 kilos, and even more than 27 kilos when your head makes a 60 ° angle with your spine. For comparison, this corresponds to 4 bowling balls, or 200 iPhones on your head!
The incidence of the angle of the head on the weight of the latter on the cervicals (© Surgical Technology International)
In fact, the more you lower your head, the less it is aligned with the spine (the ideal position). The impact on the cervicals is therefore greater.
According to the study, people spend an average of 2 to 4 hours per day checking their email or their favorite social networks on their smartphone, which amounts to 700 to 1,400 hours per year with their heads down … time could rise to 5000 hours per year, a particularly important stress for the cervicals which could “lead to wear, tear, degeneration and to possible premature surgical operations”.
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