Posted on 16th Nov 2011 @ 4:42 PM

Look out, carpal tunnel syndrome and Blackberry thumb: there's a new repetitive stress injury in town, and it's taking over chiropractors' offices all over the country. It's called text neck, and as the name might imply, it's caused by bending over smartphones and other texting gadgets and typing text messages for long periods of time.

How pervasive is it? Dean L. Fishman, a chiropractor in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. renamed his entire practice for the term. Ninety percent of his patients at the Text Neck Institute report symptoms of the condition, which include shoulder pain, neck strain, headaches, and sore thumbs.

"It's a global epidemic," Fishman says. His youngest patient is a three-year-old who loves handheld video games.

"It's starting younger and younger. There are more than six billion phones connected, and that's not counting the Kindles, iPads, tablets and all these devices we rely on daily," Fishman says. "Go outside, to a restaurant, the supermarket, a gym, the airport and notice the posture of almost everyone around you. You will see this everywhere, and now multiply that by every city in the world."

How can you combat text neck?

If you're not going to stop texting and use the phone for its original purpose (and let's face it, we're not, because no one would pick up anyway), you can alleviate the problem by altering your posture. Practice holding your phone in front of your face while texting, so that your neck maintains its natural curve. You can also spring for ergonomic aids like orthopedic pillows that will support your neck while you're sleeping.

Lastly, for those of you who are hard-core technology addicts, you'll be pleased to know that there's an app for that. Fishman created an Android App called Text Neck that shows a green light when users are holding their phones correctly and a red light when they're not.