Teach kids to use smartphones ergonomically

There is much material available on how to prevent spinal damage while studying or working from home, complete with suggestions of ergonomic furniture. But our kids are developing a hunched back faster than us as they spend more and more time on the people smartphone. They use it for texting, tweeting, emailing, using social media sites, reading, surfing the net, playing games, watching videos and even attending entire school day classes. Physiotherapists are reporting a significant rise in hand-held device related injuries, such as cervical postural syndrome, cervical disc bulge, cervicogenic headache, thumb tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome wrist tendonitis etc.  

How do you save your kids from developing these bone and muscle problems? Here are our tips:  

• Get them to switch between using thumbs and other fingers to type, avoiding thumbs as much as possible. They can do it if the phone is kept down, and not held. The surface where they keep it should be positioned to encourage optimal spinal posture, i.e. a straight back and neck 
• The wrists have to be as relaxed and as straight as possible. Minimise the strain on wrists, fingers and thumbs by using a neutral grip to hold the phone. A neutral grip is achieved when the wrist is relatively straight, or bent backwards very slightly and not bent up or down in sharp angles. When wrists are kept bent excessively while using a mobile device for hours, the fingers and thumbs tend to stretch more than with a neutral grip 
• Get them to sit straight when texting, with the phone propped up on a stand or just a few books to reach eye level. Looking down continuously bends the neck and tends to round or bunch the shoulders. This is what leads to neck, shoulder or upper back pain as kids grow older. They should avoid holding the phone in the lap or below chest height. Keeping the phone level with the chest, chin or eyes minimize stooping down, curving the neck and stressing the shoulders and spine 

And yes, no smartphones while lying in bed, especially on one side.