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Exercises For Neck Pain: 3 Moves To Alleviate 'Text Neck'

Relief!

Constantly staring down at your phone, a book or keyboard is sure to leave you with a sore, achy neck. In fact, it's a pain so common it has its own name: "text neck." While the solution seems simple (put down the phone, people!) it isn't always that easy.

In the video above, physiotherapist Jeese Awenus shares three easy exercises that will relieve neck pain caused by tech. For starters, if you can't put your phone or book down try bringing it up. Simply relocating your phone, book or screen can bring your eyes (and neck) up too.

Sitting at a desk all day doesn't help with "text neck" either since your head has a tendency to reach forward and down during the work day. To combat this, Awenus suggests using your office chair to stretch the spine and decrease stiffness in the shoulder blades.

Another trick that provides instant pain relief is chin tucks, which stress a series of small muscles at the base of the neck. This move can also relieve headaches caused by bad posture.

Medical experts warn about the dangers of "text neck," noting that poor posture caused by mobile devices can add 60 pounds of stress on neck muscles and your spine — that's about the same weight as an eight-year-old child!

According to the Washington Post, smartphone users spend two to four hours a day hunched over their tech.

Left uncorrected, this excess weight can lead to nerve irritation, arm numbness and tingling.

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