Texting for long periods 'could lower life expectancy'
The United Chiropractic Association warns that bad posture due to mobile phone use could shorten your life
12:00PM GMT 25 Mar 2014
Texting and using mobile devices for long periods of time could lead to lower life expectancy, doctors have warned.
The forward-leaning posture that many people adopt when texting, going online, sending emails or playing games on phones and other mobile devices increases the risk of an early death in elderly people, and there are fears that younger people could also be knocking time off their lives.
The United Chiropractic Association (UCA) claims that poor posture is as big a health risk as obesity. Studies suggest a link between forward-leaning posture in older people and hyperkyphosis, which is associated with pulmonary disease and cardiovascular problems.
Elderly people with even a small degree of hyperkyphosis have a 1.44 times greater risk of mortality than those without. This is a similar figure to increased risk of death presented by a body mass index greater than 30, according to the UCA.
"We tend to drop our heads forward which rounds the shoulders and this is what we term forward-leaning posture," said UCA executive member Estelle Zauner-Maughan.
"People are now definitely at an increased risk of having problems through the top of their neck and back because of their posture, which is causing a change in the curve of the back. And there is an increased risk that they will develop this earlier on in life because of the length of time they've been sitting at computers or using mobile devices."
She added that when someone drops their head forward and rounds their shoulders, it becomes impossible for them to take a full breath in because of the restriction through the muscles and because the ribs can't move properly, so the heart and lungs can't function to their full effectiveness.
The UCA is urging people to have their posture checked by a registered chiropractor and to take steps to safeguard their posture and health.
"This isn't alarmist or scaremongering; it's what more and more research is telling us. And the good news is that it doesn't have to happen because it's something we all have a degree of control over," said UCA chiropractor Edwina Waddell, who has noticed forward-leaning posture becoming more of an issue at her practice in Putney
"We can change our habits. For example, restrict the amount of time you spend on mobile devices. And bring them up to your eye level, so that you're not looking down."x
Bob Waeger
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714-514-8038 Mobile
866-532-4047 Fax
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