Is Your Smartphone Giving You “Text Neck”? Understanding Forward Head Posture and Neck Pain

A young man takes a selfie outdoors, illustrating how frequent smartphone use can contribute to forward head posture and potential neck pain.

Smartphones have become an everyday necessity, but our constant habit of looking down at devices is literally a pain in the neck. Health professionals are witnessing a surge in “text neck” – a modern term for the forward head posture associated with excessive screen time. In this blog, we’ll break down what text neck is, how it affects your cervical spine (neck), and what scientific research – including chiropractic and physiotherapy studies – says about its long-term impact. We’ll also touch on why addressing text neck is important for your posture and overall spinal health, and how osteopathy in Glen Waverley can help with neck pain and posture correction.

What Is “Text Neck”? (Forward Head Posture Explained)

Text neck (also known as “tech neck” or forward head posture) describes a repetitive stress injury or overuse syndrome of the neck caused by prolonged periods of looking down at phones, tablets, or other devices spine-health.com. Essentially, when you tilt your head forward and down to stare at a screen, your neck and upper back muscles must strain to hold up the head’s weight. Over time, this posture can become habitual, leading to a noticeable forward positioning of the head relative to the shoulders – that classic “hunched over the phone” look.

How does text neck develop? Imagine your ear should align roughly over the middle of your shoulder when standing upright. This alignment maintains the gentle inward curve of the cervical spine (the cervical lordosis), which acts as a natural shock absorber roachchiropractic.com. But with text neck, the head juts forward beyond the shoulder line, and the neck curve flattens out roachchiropractic.com. This flexed-neck posture is often seen in office workers, students, gamers, and of course, avid smartphone users who spend hours each day looking down at their screens idealspine.com. Over time, poor posture habits (compounded by insufficient ergonomic setup or weak postural muscles) train the spine into this forward-head position, even when you’re not on the phone.

In a modern office environment, a man stands with forward-head posture at his workstation, illustrating the impact of poor ergonomic habits on spinal alignment.

Symptoms and Short-Term Effects of Text Neck

Text neck usually starts with subtle symptoms. Many people first notice a dull ache or soreness in the neck or upper back after a long texting session. It can also present as stiffness in the neck or even sharp pain that makes it hard to turn your head spine-health.com. Some individuals experience tension headaches originating from the neck, shoulder tightness, or pain between the shoulder blades. In more severe cases, if nerves become irritated, you might feel tingling or pain radiating down into the arms or hands. These symptoms result from the muscular strain and joint stress of holding a forward head posture for too long.

It’s worth noting that text neck is not an officially recognized disease in medical diagnosis; rather, it’s a postural phenomenon linked to certain neck complaints. In fact, one study of 150 young adults (18–21 years old) found no direct association between their habitual texting posture and reported neck pain pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. The authors challenged the idea that just looking down at your phone automatically causes chronic neck pain pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. This suggests that factors like age, fitness, or how long you’ve had the habit may influence whether text neck posture leads to pain. In younger people, the body might compensate better in the short term. However, lack of pain doesn’t mean lack of impact – even if your teenager isn’t complaining of neck pain now, the structural changes from constant slouching could be setting the stage for problems later on.

Osteopathy check-up for a teenager highlights the long-term impact of bad posture.

Why Looking Down Hurts: The Physics of “Tech Neck”

 Figure: The effective weight of your head dramatically increases as you tilt it forward. In a neutral upright posture (head balanced over shoulders), the head weighs about 5 to 6 kg (10–12 lbs) on the neck. But at a 45° forward tilt, it’s as if your neck must support ~22 kg (50 lbs), and at a 60° tilt, ~27 kg (60 lbs) spine-health.com. This extreme force over time leads to strain of neck muscles, ligaments, and joints. (Image source: Veritas Health / Spine-health)

Your head is like a bowling ball perched on a flexible stick (your neck). In good posture, the load is balanced – the cervical spine’s curvature keeps the head’s center of gravity aligned, and the neck muscles only need to exert minimal effort to keep you upright. But when you bend your neck forward to look down at a phone, the physics change drastically. The further forward your head tilts, the heavier it effectively becomes to your neck spine-health.com. Muscles in the back of your neck and shoulders must work overtime to counteract this weight, often leading to muscle fatigue and knots. The added tension can also pull on the spine and surrounding tissues.

Over hours and days of repetitive screen-staring, this extra load may cause inflammation in neck muscles and ligaments, contributing to pain and stiffness. Researchers have even found that text messaging tends to produce a more extreme neck bend (forward flexion angle) than other smartphone activities like web browsing or video watching spine-health.com. Texting often involves looking down more intensely (sometimes using both hands, elbows in lap, which rounds the shoulders too), thereby worsening the forward head posture and increasing strain on the cervical spine.

Using a smartphone while lying down can lead to poor posture, increasing strain on the neck and shoulders.

How Text Neck and Neck Pain Are Connected

While a bit of slouching might seem harmless at first, prolonged forward head posture can lead to lasting structural changes in the cervical spine. Here’s what current research and clinical observations have found regarding chronic text neck posture:

• Loss of the Normal Cervical Curve: Your neck’s natural C-shaped curve (lordosis) normally ranges ~31°–40° inward physio-pedia.com, allowing for proper load distribution and flexibility. Consistently looking down can flatten or even reverse this curve over time roachchiropractic.com. Chiropractors and osteopaths often note a straightening of the neck on X-rays of patients with long-term poor posture (sometimes called a “military neck” when the curve is lost). This flattening is problematic because a curved spine acts like a spring – without it, shock absorption is reduced roachchiropractic.com. A flattened cervical spine means more stress on the vertebrae and discs with each movement. One chiropractic physician explains that as the head drifts forward and the cervical curve flattens, it reduces blood flow and nourishment to the spinal discs, accelerating wear-and-tear on those discs roachchiropractic.com. In other words, loss of cervical lordosis can set the stage for faster degenerative changes (what he calls “accelerated aging” of the spine) roachchiropractic.com.

• Disc Degeneration and Herniation: Perhaps the most concerning finding is the link between heavy smartphone use and cervical disc degeneration. Spinal discs are the cushiony pads between your vertebrae; prolonged abnormal posture can compress them unevenly. A 2021 study in the Journal of Orthopaedic Science analyzed MRI scans of 2,438 young patients with chronic neck pain and found those who overused smartphones had significantly worse cervical disc degeneration than those with minimal use pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Over 52% of the young patients were categorized as excessive phone users, and this group showed higher disc degeneration scores on MRI pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. The researchers concluded that excessive smartphone use may lead to cervical spondylosis (degenerative arthritis of the neck) by hastening disc wear. In plain terms, too much texting and gaming with your neck bent could be aging your spine faster – thinning the discs or even contributing to bulging/herniated discs over time. Indeed, other experts caution that forward head posture can exacerbate degenerative conditions like cervical disc disease and osteoarthritis spine-health.com. The uneven pressure on the front of the discs from constant flexion might spur earlier disc dehydration, cracks, or bulges.

• Bone Spurs and Bony Adaptations (“Text Neck Horns”): In recent years, a startling observation made headlines – young adults were found to be developing small bony growths on the back of their skull. Researchers in Australia discovered enlarged external occipital protuberances (essentially bone spurs at the base of the skull where neck muscles attach) in a large number of people in their 20s and 30s news-medical.netnews-medical.net. One study of ~1,200 X-rays found about 33% of the population had these bony bumps, and they were larger and more common in younger adults than in older folks washingtonpost.com. The scientists, Shahar and Sayers, hypothesized that this is an adaptive response to prolonged forward head posture – essentially, the body laying down extra bone where tendons and ligaments pull on the skull due to the head’s shifted weight news-medical.net. The media dubbed these findings “horn-like spurs” caused by text neck. While there was some debate and need for further research (to rule out other factors like genetics or sport), it underscores how our skeleton can remodel under chronic stress. In the past, such bone spurs at the skull base were mostly seen in older adults (as a result of lifelong wear). Now, they’re appearing in millennials and even teens – possibly because looking down at devices for hours a day, every day, is creating enough tensile stress on the neck muscles to trigger bone growth as a counterbalance news-medical.netnews-medical.net.

• Muscle Imbalance and Joint Strain: Along with changes to bones and discs, text neck often comes with muscular issues. The chest and neck front muscles (like pectorals and neck flexors) can become tight and overactive, while the upper back and neck extensor muscles weaken – a pattern known as Upper Crossed Syndrome in physiotherapy. This imbalance can further pull the spine into poor alignment. Stiffness in the upper thoracic spine (mid-back) often accompanies forward head posture, as the back muscles struggle to compensate. Over years, facet joints in the neck (the small joints at the back of each spinal level) can become irritated from the abnormal angle and alignment, contributing to arthritic changes. People with long-standing forward head posture may experience chronic neck ache, reduced neck mobility, and more frequent headaches due to these adaptations.

A woman experiencing a headache, possibly linked to chronic forward head posture, holds her temples in discomfort.

How Common Is Text Neck? (Prevalence in Teens and Adults)

If you’ve ever caught yourself or your kids slouching over a screen, you might wonder just how widespread this problem is. Research suggests that neck pain related to device use is alarmingly common – truly a modern epidemic:

• A 2022 study of university students in Saudi Arabia found that 46% of participants suffered from neck pain or other neck problems in the past 12 months due to smartphone use pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Nearly half of these young adults had experienced what they attributed to “text neck” issues within a year! The study also noted that neck disorders were significantly more common in those who self-reported having a text neck posture or who were classified as heavy smartphone users (addicted/overuse) pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. This emphasizes a clear correlation between how we use our phones and neck health.

• A systematic review published in Applied Ergonomics compiled data from over 2,400 mobile device users and reported neck complaints to be the most prevalent musculoskeletal problem associated with smartphone/tablet use pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Depending on the population and usage patterns, 17% to 68% of mobile device users reported neck pain – making neck the top complaint, above issues in hands, elbows, or other regions pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. In other words, various studies around the world collectively show that anywhere from about one in six to more than two-thirds of people have neck ache related to using their devices. This wide range is due to different study groups (students vs. working adults), but it underscores that neck strain is very widespread.

• Closer to home in Australia, health professionals are voicing similar concerns. It is estimated that around 50–80% of smartphone users will experience some form of musculoskeletal discomfort pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, and neck pain is frequently reported among them. In fact, neck and shoulder pain have become so common in younger generations that spine experts are seeing more teens in clinics with posture-related neck issues. A well-publicized Australian imaging study a few years ago (by the University of the Sunshine Coast researchers) drew attention to those “text neck horns” and speculated that device postures were to blame warragulchiropracticcentre.com.au. Though that specific finding stirred debate, it certainly made people aware that our daily habits might be visibly affecting our skeletons.

• Teenagers may be at particular risk due to early and intense exposure to devices. A Brazilian study in 2019 looked at 15–19 year-old high schoolers and found 63% of the adolescents were classified as smartphone addicts, using their phones on average 5.8 hours per day on weekdays (and nearly 9 hours per day on weekends!) pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Not surprisingly, when these teens were observed while using their phones, they showed a significant increase in forward head tilt compared to their normal posture, and those with higher smartphone addiction scores had more pronounced forward head posture pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. This indicates that heavy phone use in youth is strongly linked with postural changes. It’s a concern because teenage bones and joints are still developing; habitually poor posture can potentially lead to permanent changes in spinal alignment. Some longitudinal research has suggested that adolescents with frequent neck flexion (like when texting or gaming) might carry those postural habits (and related neck pains) into adulthood.

  
  

Despite these high prevalence figures, it’s important to approach the topic with some nuance. Not everyone who uses a smartphone will develop serious neck problems – individual factors like genetics, muscle strength, overall activity level, and ergonomics play a role. However, the global rise in neck pain (neck pain is now one of the top causes of disability worldwide thelancet.com) does coincide with the explosion of mobile technology. It’s fair to say that excessive screen time is one contributor among many to neck issues in modern life.

Children absorbed in their smartphones, illustrating the link between increased screen time and the global rise in neck pain and related disabilities.

Addressing Text Neck: Prevention and Correction

The good news is, text neck is often preventable and can be improved with mindful changes and appropriate care. Here are some science-backed strategies and tips:

• Posture Breaks and Phone Position: Simply being aware of your posture and taking action can make a huge difference. Avoid hours of continuous screen staring – set a reminder to take breaks every 20-30 minutes to stretch your neck and roll your shoulders. When you do use your phone, raise the device toward eye level rather than bending your neck down excessively. A recent study suggested that keeping your neck flexion angle between 0° and 15° (essentially head upright or only slightly tilted) while using a smartphone significantly reduces neck muscle strain and the risk of developing neck problems warragulchiropracticcentre.com.au. Practically, this means holding your phone up in front of your face (or propping your tablet on a stand) instead of looking down at your lap. It might feel odd at first, but your neck will thank you!

• Ergonomic Setup for Work/Study: If you spend long hours on a computer in addition to your phone use, ensure your workstation is neck-friendly. Position your monitor at eye level, sit back in your chair with support, and keep your shoulders relaxed. Use a document holder or secondary screen if you reference papers, so you’re not constantly looking down. For students, encourage reading at a desk with books propped up, rather than hunching over a book on the bed or floor. Every inch that you can reduce forward head protrusion will cut the load on your cervical spine dramatically.

• Exercises and Stretches: Regular exercises can help counteract text neck. Stretch the tight structures: for example, gentle chin tuck exercises (retracting your head straight back to align ears over shoulders), chest opener stretches, and neck side bends can relieve tension. Strengthen the weak muscles: focus on your deep neck flexors and your upper back muscles (like rowing exercises or scapular squeezes) to build a support system for good posture spine-health.com. Consider incorporating posture-focused yoga or Pilates, which emphasize alignment. Even simple habits like standing against a wall with your head, shoulders, and heels touching can reinforce what good posture feels like. By improving your muscle balance and endurance, your neck will be better equipped to handle screen time without pain.

• Professional Assessment and Care: If you’re already feeling the effects of text neck – persistent neck pain, stiffness, frequent headaches – it’s wise to seek a professional evaluation. An osteopath or chiropractor can assess your spinal alignment and posture. At Posture Blueprint, our osteopathy clinic in Glen Waverley, we offer comprehensive posture analysis to identify any forward head carriage, curvature changes, or movement restrictions in your neck. Through gentle hands-on techniques (like soft tissue therapy, joint mobilization, and spinal adjustments) combined with targeted exercises, we aim to restore healthier alignment and mobility to your neck and upper back. Improving cervical lordosis (when it’s been lost) and easing muscle tension can significantly relieve pain and reduce strain on discs and nerves roachchiropractic.comroachchiropractic.com. An individualized treatment plan can also address any related issues such as mid-back stiffness or rounded shoulders that often accompany text neck.

• Healthy Habits for the Long Run: Finally, treat your neck with the same care you’d treat any other part of your body you don’t want to injure. That means moderation with device use (your binge-watching or gaming sessions should be punctuated with movement), maintaining overall fitness (strong core and back muscles help support the neck), and listening to early warning signs like soreness or fatigue. If your neck is starting to ache, it’s a signal to change what you’re doing – maybe switch to a voice call instead of looking down to text, use a laptop or desktop for long writing tasks, or simply rest and stretch. Good posture isn’t about standing like a soldier constantly; it’s about frequently re-balancing yourself and avoiding extreme positions for too long.

  
  

Taking a moment to stretch and smile, she embodies the importance of balancing work and rest for better posture and well-being.

Don’t Ignore the Neck – Get Your Posture Checked!

Your neck is literally the support system for your head, and in our digital world we put it through a lot of stress. Text neck and forward head posture are more than buzzwords – they’re observable changes in how our bodies adapt to technology use, and they can have real consequences if left unchecked. The sooner you address these issues, the better your chance of preventing long-term damage like chronic pain or spinal degeneration.

If you’re dealing with text neck and neck pain, or you’ve noticed your posture suffering from too much screen time, it’s time for a professional check. At Posture Blueprint, we offer a free posture analysis using digital assessment tools to evaluate your head, neck, and spinal alignment.

Our experienced osteopaths will explain what’s happening with your posture, why you may be feeling pain or tension, and provide a tailored plan to help restore balance and comfort. We’re proud to support the Glen Waverley community with trusted, evidence-based care.

👉 Book your free posture analysis now at www.postureblueprint.com

Don’t let “text neck” become a long-term problem. With awareness, small changes, and the right guidance, you can enjoy your devices without damaging your neck. Remember: keep your head up—literally—and your spine will thank you.

Discover osteopathic care for text neck pain in the heart of the Glen Waverley community. Book your free posture analysis today.

Disclaimer:This blog is for general information and educational purposes only. It does not constitute individual medical or osteopathic advice. The assessments and treatments described, including those for posture, text neck, and spinal alignment, may not be appropriate for every individual. Please consult with a qualified healthcare provider, such as your GP or a registered osteopath, before starting any new treatment or posture program. Outcomes may vary depending on individual health needs.

References:

1. Sirajudeen MS, et al. (2022). Prevalence of text neck posture, smartphone addiction, and its association with neck disorders among university students (PeerJ 10:e14443) pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

2. Xie Y, Szeto GP, Dai J. (2017). Prevalence and risk factors associated with musculoskeletal complaints among users of mobile handheld devices: A systematic review. Appl Ergon 59:132-142 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

3. Zhuang L, et al. (2021). Association between excessive smartphone use and cervical disc degeneration in young patients with chronic neck pain. J Orthop Sci 26(1):110-115 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

4. Damasceno GM, et al. (2018). Text neck and neck pain in 18–21-year-old young adults. Eur Spine J 27(6):1249-1254 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

5. Hansraj KK. (2014). Assessment of stresses in the cervical spine caused by posture and position of the head. Surg Technol Int 25:277-279 spine-health.com.

6. Shahar D, Sayers MG. (2019). Prominent exostosis projecting from the occipital squama in young adults: An 11 year comparative study. Sci Rep 9:8217 news-medical.netnews-medical.net. (and Author Correction in Sci Rep 2019)

7. DeWitt D. (2019). How Does Text Neck Cause Pain? (Article on Spine-health, peer-reviewed by Veritas Health) spine-health.comspine-health.com.

8. Korovessis P, et al. (2015). Association Between Smartphone Use and Neck Muscle Fatigue & Forward Head Posture. (Ergonomics study cited in Spine-health) spine-health.com.

9. Fontenele TMO, et al. (2023). Smartphone addiction and postural alterations in the cervical region in adolescents. Rev Paul Pediatr 42:e2023051 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

10. Shahraki N, et al. (2021). Physiotherapy in text neck syndrome: A scoping review of current evidence. J Exerc Rehabil 17(1):36-42. (Review on therapeutic approaches for “text neck”).