Acesse
o link abaixo e veja a Matéria no Bom dia Brasil onde o Diretor da ABRColuna e
do ITC Vertebral Ribeirão Preto (Dr. Giuliano Martins) fala um pouco sobre esse assunto.
Humans were designed to stand upright. And yet
in this modern world, too many of us spend our days with our heads slumped over
for a simple reason: we're staring at the tiny screen of a smartphone.
People spend an average of 2 to 4 hours each day
with their neck bent at this unnatural angle while shooting off emails or
texts. That's 700 to 1,400 hours a year. The success of social media is has led
to an epidemic of bad smartphone posture.
The average adult head weighs 10 to 12 pounds
when it's in the upright or neutral position. However, because of that pesky
thing called physics -- gravitational pull -- the cranium becomes heavier the
more you bend your neck. Several times heavier, according to research from Dr.
Kenneth Hansraj, chief of spine surgery at New York Spine Surgery and
Rehabilitation Medicine, which will be published in Surgical Technology
International.
His study found that bending your head at a 60
degree angle to get a better look at your selfie is putting 60 pounds' worth of
pressure on your cervical spine, the portion of the spine above the shoulders.
That's more than the weight of the average 7 year old.
"The weight seen by the spine dramatically
increases when flexing the head forward at varying degrees," write the
authors in the study. "Loss of the natural curve of the cervical spine
leads to incrementally increased stresses about the cervical spine. These
stresses may lead to early wear, tear, degeneration and possibly surgeries."
But it's not just the big slump that could
eventually cause you to look like Lurch. Tilting your head a mere 15 degrees
puts 27 pounds of pressure on your spine; a 30 degree neck tilt could equal 40
pounds of pressure; a 45 degree tilt adds the force of 49 pounds.
It's no secret that correct posture is better
for your back. According to the researchers, "good posture is defined as
ears aligned with the shoulders and the 'angel wings,' or the shoulder blades,
retracted."
"In proper alignment, spinal stress
diminished," they write in their paper. "It is the most efficient
position for the spine."
Standing tall doesn't just make you look better,
it optimizes your health, too. Other studies have found good posture elevates
testosterone and serotonin in the body, and also reduces levels of the stress
hormone cortisol. Good posture has even been linked to personality traits such
as tolerance for risk-taking.
People who have poorer posture often have poorer
physical and emotional health. The researchers define bad posture as "the
head in a tilted forward position and the shoulders dropping forward in a
rounded position."
Bad posture has been linked to a host of medical
problems, including headaches and other neurological problems, depression,
constipation, and heart disease. At a minimum, constant slouching is likely to
cause a lot of chronic pain.
This is why Hansraj said it's important to be
mindful of your smartphone posture.
"While it is nearly impossible to avoid the
technologies that cause these issues, individuals should make an effort to look
at their phones with a neutral spine and to avoid spending hours each day
hunched over," the authors write in their study.
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