This post, part of our special series on the Coronavirus outbreak, was written by BGCA staff Kat Adams, Director of Sports & Recreation, and Kate Buechner, Director of Youth Development Training.

For most of us, working from home has not been our primary mode of operations until now, so we’re all scrambling to set up home offices and create productive habits and environments to operate within. If you’re like us, you’re trying to do the best you can with what you have. Spending hours in front of a computer or frequently looking at our phones is rough on our bodies even in the best of circumstances, but our current working conditions (the couch, the coffee table, the kitchen counter) may be causing us additional pain. And adults working from home aren’t the only people experiencing this – kids and teens are also likely spending more time than usual hunched over laptops, tablets, phones, or typewriters.

One of the most common conditions related to computer, tablet and phone use has been dubbed “tech neck.” Tech neck is the posture of having your head tilted downward and chin extended forward – the posture we’re basically all assuming as we stare down into our screens all day. This posture can cause both short and long term problems.

Common symptoms of tech neck include:

• Pain in the neck, upper back and/or shoulder. This pain may be located in one specific spot and feel intense or stabbing, or it may be a general achiness and soreness that covers a broader region, such as spanning from the bottom of the neck and into the shoulder(s). 
• Forward head posture and rounded shoulders. Muscles in the neck, chest, and upper back can become deconditioned (weak) and imbalanced. This can make it difficult to maintain good posture with the ears directly over the shoulders.
• Reduced mobility. The neck, upper back, and shoulders may all experience some tightness and reduced mobility.
• Headache. Muscles at the base of the neck could go into spasm and become painful, or pain could also be referred from the neck up into the head. This is on top of the increase risk for headaches that comes from looking at screens.
• Increased pain when neck flexion. Tech neck symptoms tend to worsen when the neck is flexed forward into the position that originally caused the problem, such as while looking down and texting. 
• Balance issues. Prolonged amounts of time in forward head posture have been linked to reduced balance control, due to the head’s center of gravity migrating further in front of the body. This can result in even more muscle imbalances and posture changes.

Good news! There are some easy stretches you can do at home daily to counteract the effects of staring down at a screen – no equipment needed! Come back tomorrow; we will share a few great stretches!