Your Low Back is Paying the Price for "Text Neck"

We spend hours each day looking down at our phones, tablets, and laptops. This pervasive forward head posture, now commonly known as "text neck," does far more than just strain your neck—it triggers a destructive domino effect down your entire spine that often culminates in significant low back pain. Your spine is a brilliantly designed S-curve, engineered to absorb shock and distribute your body’s weight evenly. When you jut your head forward, you throw that entire biomechanical system dangerously out of balance.

The human head is heavy, weighing about 10-12 pounds. When it's balanced correctly over your shoulders, your spine handles the load with ease. However, for every inch your head moves forward, its effective weight on the spine doubles. A landmark 2014 study by Dr. Kenneth Hansraj, published in Surgical Technology International, revealed that tilting your head forward just 60 degrees to look at a phone can subject the neck to a staggering 60 pounds of force. Imagine carrying an eight-year-old child on your neck for hours every day.

This immense pressure forces the muscles in your upper back and shoulders to overwork, causing them to stretch, fatigue, and burn. As a result, your shoulders begin to round forward, deepening the curve of your upper back. To compensate for this forward shift and keep your eyes level with the horizon, your body must make an adjustment further down the chain. This often causes your pelvis to tilt forward, which in turn dramatically increases the arch in your lumbar spine. This exaggerated curve, or hyperlordosis, places an intense compressive load on the small facet joints of the lower back and can alter the pressure on your intervertebral discs. Over time, this sustained stress can lead to chronic muscle strain, facet joint arthritis, disc degeneration, and a nagging, persistent low back ache.

The solution begins with conscious awareness and proactive changes. Hold your phone at eye level whenever possible. If you work at a computer, position your monitor so the top third of the screen is at eye level. Take frequent "posture breaks" every 30 minutes to stand, stretch your chest in a doorway, and perform chin tucks. However, correcting the underlying spinal imbalances is crucial. Chiropractic adjustments are essential for restoring proper motion to the affected joints in your neck, upper back, and pelvis. This relieves mechanical stress and retrains your nervous system, allowing your body to break the cycle of poor posture and finally find lasting relief for both your neck and your lower back.