Risk of cervical spondylosis due to long-term use of phones and computers

According to doctors, bowing your head to use your phone or computer for long periods of time will increase the risk of neck and shoulder pain and accelerate cervical spine degeneration.

Spinal degeneration is one of the most common diseases today. People at risk of the disease are 40-50 years old, including both men and women. It is worth mentioning that currently, people at risk of the disease are getting younger (from 25-30 years old), due to unscientific living and working habits.

According to doctors, bowing your head to use your phone or computer for long periods of time will increase the risk of neck and shoulder pain and accelerate cervical spine degeneration.

Master Vu Xuan Phuoc, Department of Orthopedics and Spine, Bach Mai Hospital said that cervical spondylosis is part of the natural aging process. The disease progresses depending on age and stage. At each stage, there will be different changes.

However, today, with the development of science and technology, bowing your head to use the phone or computer for a long time will increase the risk of neck and shoulder pain and accelerate the degeneration of the cervical spine.

On average, the neck bears about 5.4 kg. However, bending the head, sitting, and standing in the wrong position will cause the neck to bear a greater load. Specifically, bending the neck 15 degrees will cause the neck to bear up to 12.2 kg, bending 45 degrees increases to 22.2 kg, and bending up to 60 degrees increases to 27.2 kg (5 times the average). When bearing a large load and occurring over a long period of time, the rate of cervical spine degeneration occurs faster.

Most people who use phones and computers force themselves into a bowed head position. If they maintain this habit for a long time, users will not only have problems with their neck, shoulders, and spine, but also have symptoms of musculoskeletal pain in their hands, especially the wrists and fingers.

Another cause that accelerates the aging of the cervical spine is being overweight or obese. According to Dr. Vu Xuan Phuoc, when body weight increases, the pressure on the joints increases, especially the back, hip, knee, and ankle joints, causing these joints to be damaged early and age quickly.

Symptoms of cervical spondylosis are: Pain in the neck, pain from the nape of the neck to the neck, ears, sometimes pain in the head, shoulders, arms. The patient feels a lot of pain, difficulty when moving the neck such as turning, bending, and tilting the neck.

In addition, patients also feel pain in the nape of the neck, stiff neck, headache when lying in the wrong position, when lying down for a long time, when the weather changes suddenly...

Regarding bone and joint diseases, recently, Tue Tinh Hospital, Vietnam Academy of Traditional Medicine has received many young people for examination, rehabilitation treatment, and physical therapy for shoulder and neck pain, spinal pain, bone and joint pain, and herniated discs.

There are even cases where people as young as 20-22 years old have to go to the doctor and complain about joint pain. The pain is a typical symptom of early osteoarthritis.

Explaining the reason why bone and joint diseases are increasingly common in young people, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Manh Cuong, Director of Tue Tinh Hospital, said that modern lifestyle makes people lazy to exercise, while the time spent using computers and phones is more.

Sitting in one position, one posture while using a computer or phone for a long time can easily lead to shoulder and neck pain, neck pain, etc., which in turn leads to an increase in bone and joint diseases. Particularly for office workers, the rate of musculoskeletal diseases has now reached more than 65%.

For example, with osteoarthritis, if not treated promptly, it will cause unpredictable consequences for health. Osteoarthritis is a condition caused by cartilage wear or tear due to injury.

Osteoarthritis can appear when the patient is young due to bad habits such as alcohol abuse, smoking addiction, and improper diet.

Experts are concerned that if not detected and treated promptly, osteoarthritis can cause many dangerous complications such as: bone necrosis, arthritis, joint infection, tendon and ligament damage, cartilage calcification, joint rupture when injured, and in the worst case, disability. This indirectly reduces the quality of life, reduces labor productivity and increases medical costs.

Many young people often have a subjective mentality when their bones and joints ache because they think this condition can heal itself. However, in reality, this can be a warning sign of dangerous bone and joint diseases.

In order to not create conditions for dangerous bone and joint diseases to develop, everyone, whether old or young, should be aware of disease prevention.

Medical experts recommend that to help strengthen muscles and bones, each person needs to exercise and play sports with appropriate exercises such as: swimming, cycling, walking, gymnastics, yoga...

You should practice the best posture for your joints by standing up straight, avoiding lying down for long periods, climbing stairs, sitting for long periods, standing in one place for long periods of time causing stagnant blood circulation and stiff joints. In addition, when sitting at work, everyone should pay attention to keeping their back straight, not squatting...

In addition, experts also emphasize that you should limit high-intensity exercise, avoid gaining too much weight, and always know how to absorb vitamin D from early morning sunlight.

In particular, instead of sitting and working continuously for 3-4 hours, after 30 minutes to 1 hour, each person should stand up and move around in place for 5-10 minutes to help keep muscles and joints flexible.

When you see the initial symptoms of the disease such as pain in the neck and shoulder area, pain in the lower back, pain in the heel area, pain in the joints... you need to go to a specialized medical facility for examination immediately, avoid using products to relieve bone and joint pain indiscriminately.

Painkillers can only relieve current joint pain, mainly preventing knee effusion symptoms from affecting the patient's general health.

Somewhat reduces the difficulty in moving the knee joint. If only using painkillers without focusing on treating the problem of fluid accumulation in the knee joint, the disease still cannot be completely cured.

Patients are not encouraged to buy and take painkillers themselves because the side effects of painkillers are causing digestive diseases such as stomach ulcers.

Self-medication with painkillers can easily lead to drug abuse, which is a precursor to many other health problems. Patients who need to take painkillers should talk to their doctor to get the appropriate dosage.

When unfortunately suffering from bone and joint diseases, people should not abuse painkillers. Supplementing necessary vitamins and minerals such as calcium, vitamins A, B, C, D, E, omega 3 fatty acids should follow the instructions of medical staff.

To maintain a healthy musculoskeletal system, people need to ensure they get 7-8 hours of sleep a day. In addition, they need to ensure a scientific diet, full of nutrients, and diverse foods.

Another important thing to note is to drink enough 1.5 - 2 liters of water per day. Drink slowly, divided into many times. Drinking enough water, properly helps the circulatory system work well, increases the body's ability to detoxify through the urinary tract and helps lubricate cartilage.

As for spinal degeneration, to prevent it, according to Dr. Vu Xuan Phuoc, people need to build a healthy diet, supplement enough calcium and vitamin D, increase foods containing lots of fiber; at the same time, regularly exercise, play sports and control weight.

For manual workers, do not bend over to lift heavy objects or carry too much weight on your shoulders. Adjust your posture correctly when doing activities to avoid spinal injuries.

For office workers who require a lot of sitting, every 30-60 minutes you should stand up and walk around, change your posture, and warm up your body with some stretching movements. Absolutely do not sit still at the computer for a long time. The distance from the computer screen should be 50-66cm, and the screen should be placed about 10-20 degrees below eye level.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/nguy-co-thoai-hoa-dot-song-co-vi-su-dung-dien-thoai-may-tinh-thoi-gian-dai-d223033.html