Having constant pain in your neck can be a serious problem. It can make your time at work less productive, and it can make spending time with friends and family much less enjoyable. A physical therapist can help you determine the source of your chronic neck pain. 

In general, neck pain is a common issue for people in the U.S. It’s reported that about 5% of Americans have neck pain at any given point in time. Physical therapists are adept at pinpointing the source of your neck pain. One issue that many therapists are linking to constant neck pain is text neck. 

How does text neck cause constant neck pain?

Text neck is caused by bending your head and neck forward to look down at a mobile device. Tasks that lead to this posture include checking apps on your smartphone or reading books on a tablet. There are a huge number of people who could develop text neck. After all, a study found that 92% of U.S. adults own a smartphone. 

Chronic neck pain is the most common symptom of text neck, but this condition can also cause: 

• Severe neck stiffness.
• Pain in the lower part of the neck.
• Pain that radiates into the shoulders and arms. 
• Weakness in the shoulder muscles. 
• Frequent tension headaches.

What can your physical therapist do to treat text neck?

There are many steps that a physical therapist can take to treat text neck. All these steps will be aimed at reducing the constant neck pain this condition can cause. One step your therapist will take is to examine your neck. This will help them identify what symptoms and underlying issues you have. 

Your therapy specialist can also build you a personalized treatment plan for your text neck. Some of the therapy methods that your plan may include are: 

• Postural training intended to help you maintain better head and neck posture. 

• Spinal stabilization exercises that can build strength in your neck and shoulder muscles.

• Aquatic therapy sessions to help naturally decompress the cervical spine. 

• Manual therapy designed to decrease tension in neck and shoulder soft tissue. 

Discover how Franklin Rehabilitation can treat your constant neck pain

You don’t have to continue living with constant neck pain from text neck. Our physical therapy specialists at Franklin Rehab are ready and willing to help you treat this condition. We’ll start by doing a free screening to confirm that your symptoms are caused by text neck. After that, our therapists will build you a unique therapy plan that may include the techniques mentioned above and more.  

Contact our team today for more information about how we can help you with chronic neck pain or to schedule an initial appointment.