Beware “Text Neck!”

Dr. R. A. Foxworth, FICC, MCS-P

If you’re like most doctors, you probably have a sign in your office asking patients to turn off or silence their cell phones. It’s a kindness to other patients and your front desk CA, who has enough to juggle without overhearing four or five different one-sided conversations.

But, there’s also a benefit you might not have considered. By limiting your patients’ time spent on their smartphones, you’re doing one small part to help them to avoid “text neck,” a newly christened dysfunction that has become increasingly more prevalent among people of all ages and walks of life, including chiropractors and their teams.

You already know that the human head weighs roughly 12 pounds. At the 60-degree angle with which most smartphone owners hold their heads in order to read and text, the weight on the cervical spine is estimated to be about 60 pounds. That’s like carrying an eight-year-old child around your neck for several hours a day!

Studies show smartphone users spend an average of two to four hours per day hunched over. You can see the problem just by taking a quick look around next time you’re at a coffeehouse or maybe even in your own family room. That adds up to anywhere from 700 to 1,400 hours per year of stress on the spine. Your practice is probably seeing increased inflammation, muscle strain, irritated nerves and even herniated discs. If the problem goes unaddressed and uncorrected, it can reverse the cervical curve.

This is a perfect topic for a Healthy Lifestyle Workshop, a hot topic for your monthly newsletter, a great subject for an infographic to post in your waiting room, and a discussion worth having with every patient you see. Consider changing that “please silence your cell phones” sign in your waiting room to one that asks your patients to turn off their cell phones not just out of consideration for their fellow patients, but for their own spinal health.

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As a ChiroHealthUSA provider, you already know how much you give your patients in financial support in the form of legal discounts based on your actual fee schedule. Those discounts enable your patients to enjoy not just active treatment, but the maintenance and wellness care they deserve – the kind of care that prevents something like “text neck” from growing into a much bigger problem.

Through our webinars, our experts stand ready to help you in all areas of your practice, including marketing advice and support, hot treatment topics like “text neck,” regulatory and industry updates, staff training and scripting, documentation risks, compliance, and so much more.

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