As they say in fighting: "As the head goes so goes the whole body." Now, we are fighting bad posture. Consider the results of a recent study involving school aged children: "Poor posture was diagnosed in 38.3% of children...The most frequently detected defects were as follows: protruding scapulae (shoulder blades) 50% of the children, increased lumbar lordosis 32%, and rounded back 31%." These postural changes are easy to see in the children as slouching. "Children with poor posture reported headaches and pain in the cervical and lumbar spine more frequently."
First we removed lockers from schools and encouraged backpacks, then we gave the kids cell phones "in case of emergencies" and now many of the children are using computers in particular laptops or notebooks to do homework. All of these beneficial tools are in addition to an increased lack of physical activity that is increasing every year. All of these are re-forming our children's bodies into abnormal and unhealthy postures.
Text Neck or Forward Head Posture has been shown to increase adult related health risks as shown in the following studies:
"Spinal pain, headaches, mood, blood pressure, and lung capacity are among the functions most easily influenced by posture."
"Older men and women with hyperkyphotic posture (slouching and forward head posture) have higher mortality (death) rates.
The solution to this problem is to increase our children's physical activity level and decrease their text time. This is easily done by involving ourselves more in physical activities as a family. It does not have to be limited to school sports. Find things that are fun for everyone and do them, that's what we do in our house.
Remember, small problems with small kids become big problems with big kids. So, lets have fun and be healthy starting today.
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