A person's lifestyle and eating habits have commonly been found to be a major factor to consider, when health issues rear their nasty head over the course of a person's life, with the latest research carried out by the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) pointing an accusatory finger at the repetitive nature of mobile phone usage. Their findings suggest that poor posture relating to an ever increasing sedentary lifestyle, especially when using mobile phones and other electrical devices, is a likely cause for the massive increase in young people having back and neck pain.
We commonly think nothing of continuously glancing down at our latest electronic gizmo, but the repetitive nature of that action seems to be storing up issues for us all somewhere down the line. The BCA's survey discovered that a worrying 45% of youngsters aged between 16 and 24 years old confirmed that they were experiencing neck or back concerns at present. When compared to the same figure twelve months ago, a significant but far less 28% had such concerns then. In explanation of the marked rise, Tim Hutchful, a BCA chiropractor pointed out that people are commonly not considering their posture when they use their mobiles or laptops in bed.
The surveys' findings were endorsed by first-hand experience of increased numbers of younger patients (essentially those below the age of 30) being treated by fellow BCA chiropractors in recent times.
In the not too distant past, younger people would only tend to visit a chiropractor with neck problems, if they had been involved in a car accident. Based on the data available to the research, the demographics backed up the heightened numbers among IT consultants, who will typically spend between 8 and 10 hours in a working day using computers.
Add into that the time spent looking at mobile phones while travelling to and from work and the likelihood that they will also surf the internet in the evening at home, then a pattern of behaviour that is likely to contribute to back and neck concerns becomes evident. Another expert in the field, Rishi Loatey, commented that there has been "a dramatic change over the last five or 10 years" in people's lifestyles.
From their results, the BCA were able to break down our typical (average) days and identify that two hours is commonly spent in a seated position while looking at a mobile phone; nearly four hours is afforded to checking a laptop or desktop computer; a further three or so hours is dedicated to watching television and films.
