Massage Therapy Journal Summer 2024

Summer 2024 • 37

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resources. Some new studies in insects have shown regular exposure of blue light may even harm the structures of the eye. 13 • Neck wrinkles . The appearance of neck wrinkles is often a long-term consequence of sustained poor posture, requiring considerable time and effort to address. Although this is a superficial side effect of poor posture, think about the amount of time and money many people spend trying to reduce the appearance of wrinkles with creams, fillers and surgeries. The immediate effects of TNS are often related to muscle strain and discomfort, while the chronic consequences result from structural and physiological changes that develop over an extended period due to continuous poor neck posture and device use and addiction. In recent studies, excessive mobile device use has been linked to obesity, which can also lead to many other diseases. 14 Differentiators Between Similar Conditions A condition known as forward head posture (FHP) has been acknowledged for many years. However, its historical prevalence has primarily been influenced by occupations that forced individuals

into prolonged anteriorly rounded and head forward postures. 15 This was often the reality for people engaged in professions requiring long hours in this type of static posture. Still, the incidence seems to be comparatively lower considering that individuals would conclude their workday and return to normal, varied activities, disrupting the monotony of the rounded-forward posture. In the past, shutting down computers marked the end of office or classroom hours, allowing for a return to a broader range of motion and activities. Today, savvy tech companies often employ persuasive design techniques for user interfaces, app features, colors, alert types and more to make them highly addictive. 16 In our contemporary landscape, the majority of us remain tethered to phones or other devices, perpetually maintaining a fairly fixed pattern from wake to sleep. While it is true that other common activities also include maintaining a forward head position with the neck flexed—such as reading a book or doing household chores like laundry or dishes—the sheer duration spent in a static position during texting or scrolling mobile devices is significantly longer, and there are also mechanical differences between a traditional FHP and the TNS positioning of the body.

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