So by show of hands, how many people use their phones to text? Thats what I thought...all of you. Now how many of you “walk and text” with your head down? Again, all of you. Well that tells me two glaring facts about our population...first, your phone IS smarter than you and second, it’s also destroying your body and killing you.
I know it sounds harsh, but it’s true. The more we text and look down at our phones the more we are changing our bodies for the worse. First a brief anatomy lesson. Every aspect of our bodies are controlled by our brain, which sends out commands through our spinal cord. That cord is protected by our spinal vertebrae, which has a certain shape to act as a shock absorber and protector of our spinal cord.
Now our vertebral column’s shape has developed through evolution in order to provide us with the best mechanical advantage and protection from the outside world. We naturally have certain “curves” to it, again to provide us with better advantages like weight distribution and mobility. There are two types of curves that we have in our vertebral column. In our cervical region (necks) and our lumbar region (low back) we have a “Lordotic Curve” and in our thoracic spine (mid back), we have a “Kyphotic Curve”.
First lets talk about the “Lordotic Curve” found in our necks and low back. The Lordotic curve or “Lordosis” of the spine looks like a backwards wide “C” and is extremely important to how our bodies function. This curve in our necks acts as a stabilizer or shock absorber as well as it supports the weight of our head and balances the load. Our neck has a multitude of nerves, arteries and blood vessels that run through it, unfortunately the spaces between the cervical vertebra are the smallest. So any mis-alignment will have a more serious and immediate impact on the the limbs and functions in the upper body & head region.
In the Lumbar Region or low back, this curve helps to stabilize the weight of our bodies above the hips. Again acting as a shock absorber and perfect “hinge” point for the mechanics of the lower extremities. As athletes I’m sure you have heard about keeping a “natural arch” in your low back while squatting or dead-lifting, ETC... The Lordotic curve is what they are referring to, too much curve(or arch in the back) produces a sheering force on your lower spine that can cause serious injury in any weightlifting exercise. Also, a “rounded back” will load your spine incorrectly and you will not be able to carry the load sufficiently as well as you wont be able to protect the spinal cord during the lift.
The Thoracic spine or “mid back” has a different type of curve, which is called a “Kyphotic Curve”, this means “rounded back”. The normal curve looks like a wide “C” that meets both the cervical and lumbar curves fluidly or without a sharp change in direction. In athletics coaches will refer to this as keeping a “straight back”, but truly that is not the case. The cue in general is to keep you from exaggerating the curve which will throw off your natural body mechanics and disrupt how we carry load safely and efficiently.
So, how are our phones killing us you ask? Well, now that you know what the curve in your neck SHOULD look like, what do you think it looks like after you spend all day hunched over your computer and then looking down at your phone every chance you get? Thats right, it straightens out or even worse, reverses the natural curve of your neck. Do you remember earlier when I talked about the Cervical Vertebrae openings being the smallest in you spine? Well if you straighten out the natural curve in your neck (or God forbid) reverse he curve, you are making those spaces even smaller.
To add insult to injury, you are also putting a lot of strain and sheering force on the discs between your cervical vertebrae causing them to herniate and break down faster. The discs that sit between your vertebrae are a gel like fluid filled disc and once herniated, can put a lot of pressure on anything near it like a nerve (hence “pinched nerve). If a disc continues to be worn down it can die...thats right die. There is no coming back from this without a painful and extensive surgery to replace it with a prosthetic disc that will never act like your own natural disc.
Typical symptoms of this reversal of curve are tingling or loss of feeling in your fingers, migraines and head aches all the way to sickness and hearing loss. There is a whole lot more going on in your neck than you give it credit for, and as an athlete we need to know our bodies if we are to use it for performance (just like a Nascar driver knows his/her car). Take the time to look at what is controlled in our bodies through the different regions of the spine and you will be surprised at how absolutely everything is controlled through this, just like the wires on a main frame computer. Cut one and it will wreak havoc on the entire system in ways you didn’t think possible. Check out this interactive chart to see where your “wires” go to and what they do: www.echiropractic.net/nervechart.htm
So, look up people, pick your head up and be consciously aware of this all important curve. Besides contributing to good body mechanics, walking around with your head up will keep you from walking in front of traffic or into a fountain (hilarious to us, not so funny to you). We are quickly turning into a zombie nation all walking around with our heads down shuffling our feet through life glazed over and locked into our phones. First things first, look up and walk, then get to a chiropractor and have them x-ray you to see the extent of the loss of this curve. There are plenty of exercises that you can do to help get back to a normal healthy curve but I would also strongly recommend getting regular chiropractic adjustments to complete your action plan of spinal maintenance. You should always go to the expert for any situation, just like you take your car to a trusted mechanic for preventative maintenance to ensure your second largest purchase lasts as long as possible and runs as well as possible right? The same should go for your spine, after all it does effect every aspect of our lives, so do the right thing and get to your chiropractor regularly.
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