Text Neck: Symptoms, Prevention and How to Fix It

Look around any waiting room, restaurant or airport and you’ll see it: heads bent, shoulders rounded, eyes locked on a phone. Text neck is the neck pain and stiffness that comes from spending hours looking down at handheld devices. It’s also called “anterior head syndrome” or “turtle neck posture.”

If you spend a couple of hours a day hunched over your phone, you’re like most of us. Here is what text neck is, the symptoms to watch for, how to prevent it, and what to do if you already have it.

What Is Text Neck?

When you look down at a phone or tablet, your head tips forward and your neck bends. Most people crane their neck well forward when texting, reading or scrolling. The further your head drifts in front of your shoulders, the harder the muscles at the back of your neck and upper back have to work to hold it up.

Do that for a few minutes and nothing happens. Do it for hours a day, every day, and those muscles get tired and tight, the joints at the top of the neck stiffen, and pain starts to build. It isn’t only texting. Online banking, reading, emails, games and video all keep your head down. And walking while looking at your phone adds the risk of a trip or fall.

Text Neck Symptoms

• Stiff neck: soreness and trouble turning your head
• Pain: either in one spot or spreading into the shoulders and arms
• Muscle weakness: tired, weak upper back and shoulder muscles such as the trapezius and rhomboids
• Headaches: tension headaches that start at the base of the skull. See how physical therapy treats tension headaches.

When to get checked right away

• Arm symptoms: numbness, tingling or weakness in your arms or hands
• After trauma: neck pain after a fall or car accident
• Other warning signs: severe headache, dizziness, trouble walking, or fever with a stiff neck

How to Prevent Text Neck

When it comes to text neck, prevention works better than anything else. A few habits make a big difference:

1. Bring the screen up: hold your phone closer to eye level instead of dropping your head to your hands.
2. Take breaks: put the device down every 20–30 minutes and look up, around and over each shoulder.
3. Don’t stay still: avoid holding one posture for long. Move around and reset.
4. Use two hands: holding a phone or tablet in one hand for long periods strains your arm and twists your posture.
5. Set up your workstation: raise your laptop or monitor so your head and chest stay upright.

For more on how screens affect the rest of your spine, read the three signs of poor posture.

What to Do If You Already Have Text Neck

• Gentle neck movement: slow side bends and rotations in a pain-free range keep the joints moving.
• Chin tucks: gently draw your chin straight back to strengthen the deep neck muscles that hold your head up.
• Upper back strength: rows and band pull-aparts help your shoulders stay back.
• Massage and heat or ice: they can ease symptoms for a while, but they won’t fix the cause on their own.

How Physical Therapy Fixes Text Neck

If your neck pain keeps coming back, a Doctor of Physical Therapy can find out why. With The Gray Method™, we look at your neck, upper back and shoulders together, use hands-on treatment to free up stiff joints and tight muscles, and build a custom exercise plan that strengthens the muscles holding your head up. Our guide to neck pain do’s and don’ts has more everyday tips.

Look Up Without Neck Pain

You don’t have to give up your phone to get rid of text neck. Our neck pain treatment in Fort Myers finds the cause and fixes it, one-on-one with a Doctor of Physical Therapy at our clinics in Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Estero.

Start with our Fixing the Cause & Not Just the Symptoms Assessment, or Inquire About an Appointment →

Call our office at (239) 223-0484 to schedule your appointment.