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If you ever feel any soreness around your shoulders and neck and upper back pain, chances are you have what spine doctors call a text neck. This painful situation is brought about by improper posture during use of electronics like cell phones, tablets or laptops.

In a study by neurosurgeon Dr. Todd Lanman of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Surgeon, a growing number of children and young adults are reporting disk hernias and spine alignment problems. This concerns the researchers because this is an age group that should not yet have issues like neck and upper back pain.

The neck and upper back pain is caused when people look down when they were using their smartphones or tablets for long periods of time. The neck is naturally curved backward but  with people who complain of having a text neck, it is flexed at unnatural angles forward up to about 45 degrees, Reuters reported.

The pressure on the spine is aggravated by the angles the neck is flexed. Dr. Lanman believes that when one looks forward in a neutral position, the head typically weighs around twelve pounds. The angle the neck tilts forward adds to the pressure the neck feels while carrying the head. So a 60 degree tilt the neck will feel that it is carrying a 60 pound load.

Other doctors have also noticed that people who go to them usually have some bone spurs growing on their necks. When neck discs of the spine get pressured, these discs tend to weaken from the pressure and will eventually bulge, WTOK reported. Doctors believe that the undue pressure can be solved by proper posture and ergonomics.

The experts believe that the pressure on the neck can be alleviated by cutting down on the time the neck is bending forwards. It is also suggested that the screens of electronics like laptops or desktops are at the natural eye level to avoid the unnatural posture while the keyboards are placed ergonomically. They also recommend frequent rest breaks and physical exercise so neck and shoulder muscles are not stressed out as even the shortest breaks allows tissues to recover.

As the saying goes, too much of a good thing is bad for you. So however good a game is in your smartphone, take time to disconnect from the virtual world and nurture your connections in the real world.