Don’t look down!
One third of the Romanians have never looked at the sky in the last week, in spite of the fact that they say they are very close to nature.
Luiza Moldovan, 20.07.2022, 02:00
One third of the Romanians have never looked at the sky in the last week, in spite of the fact that they say they are very close to nature. This is the result of a recent study, commissioned by a glass window producer. According to another recent study, most people across the globe spend 5 thousand hours a year looking at a screen, which causes back pain and related health problems. Speaking about screen time, an American neurologist gave it a name – the Head Downers Syndrome. The constant head downing leads to muscle cramps, a condition increasingly common in teenagers. There are many children and adolescents who go see physical therapists, looking for quick solutions to a chronic problem – the addiction to technology, which has an impact on our physical health.
Radu-Mihai Avram, a physical therapist, tells us about the consequences of the bad posture most of us have, sometimes without knowing it: It is true, people spend a lot of time keeping their head down and the number of young people and children who do so is worrying. They are addicted to new technologies and the phones we did not have in our childhood, which triggers a series of functional problems of the spine. We spend a lot of time keeping our heads down, when we look at the screens, and we forget about our posture when we are concerned about work, school and other things, all these causing us back problems.
Radu-Mihai Avram tells us about the most difficult cases he dealt with: The most severe cases here in our clinic were in teenagers aged 13 to 18 or even younger, who were diagnosed with conditions that are normally common in adults. They were diagnosed with spondylolisthesis, a spine condition that occurs when one of the vertebrae slips out of place onto the vertebra below it. Others had lumbar discopathy, a condition which is very painful. Medication, physical therapy and pain killers are needed in these cases.
Radu Mihai Avram has a piece of advice for parents: We should always pay attention to our childrens posture. Each time they use the phone or another device we should teach them what the correct posture is, for either standing or sitting. They should avoid using mobile devices while staying in bed, in an armchair, with the head down. We must learn the correct posture ourselves, as parents and then teach our children to do the same. My advice to parents is to look for the 90 degree angle. A 90-degree angle between trunk and femur, femur and tibia. By maintaining this angle we ease pressure on joints and muscles. Also, body weight should be supported equally by both legs; the neck should be kept straight, and the shoulders slightly pulled towards the back.
Radu-Mihai Avram also told us : If our spinal cord could speak, it would tell us the following : do not rush to solve everything in a minute, do not carry heavy things, remember that I am here and I am not indestructible, I can be easily damaged. Once a lesion occurs, it is difficult to make it go away and it takes years to improve things. You need physical exercise. Make sure you keep your back in the correct position and have a healthy diet. Avoid lifting heavy weight and remember you are responsible for your own health. (EE)
