- Hi, my name is Dr. Julie Foster, and I'm a chiropractor.
Text neck is really a syndrome, which just means that
it's a group of symptoms that we've developed specifically
from the way that we hold our media devices,
so our cellphones specifically.
The symptoms can vary from person to person,
but it's really common to find patients who complain of
neck pain, for sure, shoulder pain, headaches, tension,
and definitely difficulty in the way that
they're able to turn their heads.
When you keep leaning your head forward,
we pull it out of that natural position.
Normally everybody's head weighs, I don't know,
10 or 12 pounds depending on how smart you are.
But the further you go away from your body, the more force
that your head applies to your neck.
So as I pitch more and more forward, my head becomes
literally heavier up to weights like two and three,
maybe six times its normal weight, so this is
really significant strain over long periods of time.
- I'm Candace.
- I'm Jared.
- My name is Henry.
I'm an awesome texter.
- I probably spend like six hours of the day
just at the computer like this.
- I'm really worried that I'm gonna develop an
old people hump, which is a very scientific term. (laughs)
I've noticed in pictures that my shoulders are forward
and they're not nice and pulled back,
even if it feels like they are.
- I definitely have back problems and posture problems.
I'm not activating my core enough,
even though I think about it.
It's like you're talking to a smoker, and it's just like,
"Oh, do you think the reason why you're short of breath
is 'cause you smoke all the time?"
Yeah, probably.
I'm not a doctor, I don't have an X-ray of my lungs
in front of me or the medical expertise to make that call.
But if I had to guess, yes.
The answer is that I do have text neck.
- [Julie] One of the first things I always look at is to see
where people's shoulders line up in relation to their body.
You can see that her shoulders are pitching forward
or pulling forward, so what'd we'd really like to see
is for those to be set back here.
And look how that immediately kind of opens up her chest.
Candace, when I pull your shoulders back,
is a little less tension on your neck?
- Yeah.
- It's a miracle.
- I feel more ladylike. (laughs)
- Yes, 'cause she looks more ladylike, right?
Nice and easy.
He looks comfortable, doesn't he?
He looks really, really comfortable right now.
Are you comfortable?
- No.
- Not at all; he's not at all.
Looks pretty darn good to me.
I might pull him back just a bit.
There you go.
You notice just that little bit of adjustment?
That it brings his ears a little closer in line.
I think over time he'd have to pay attention to that,
but he could certainly make that adjustment
and give himself a little bit less pressure here.
But it's easy when you're standing here
and a doctor is poking at you.
Computers, cellphones, these things aren't
going anywhere, so to kind of blindly put it aside
and say that you shouldn't use your cellphone as much
or you shouldn't use your computer as much
really doesn't deal with the issue.
It's up to each person individually to become
more mindful about their bodies.
One of the things that happens with technology is
it allows us to disconnect from other things, whether that's
people or places or even ourselves.
But your health is based on your connection to you,
so absolutely use your cellphone,
stay connected to BuzzFeed.
But for all intents and purposes, please lift your phone up,
lift your eyes up, listen to your body,
pull your shoulders back, breathe deeply.
And all of these things help you keep your posture in mind.