How Pokémon Go Affects Your Posture and What You Can Do About It
I’m sure by now you’ve heard the
news about the new Pokémon game, right? People are, sometimes literally, falling
head over heels over this new game. My news feed is filled to the brim with
updates on how it’s impacting people’s lives. From accidently getting exercise
due to all the walking, to getting into accidents, people are really getting
into this.
I saw a video about playing it the
other day. The people in the video were walking around with their heads down, so
focused on what they were doing, but didn’t seem to pay much attention to what
was happening around them. While it’s a major safety concern to behave like
this, it’s also a major problem for your body alignment. Have you ever heard of
text neck?
If you’re familiar with the term
then you may instantly understand what’s happening. If not, let me teach you a
little about it. Text Neck is a term associated with the neck pain and damage
caused by looking down at a cell phone, tablet, or mobile device for long
periods. Children and teenagers are particularly at risk for suffering from this
issue. Would you believe me if I said that they’re the ones mostly playing the
game?
Of course adults play it too. I’m by
no means excluding anyone, but by all means text neck doesn’t discriminate who
it affects. When you spend hours daily walking around with your head down as you
track the little critters on your phone, it takes a toll on your neck and spine.
For every inch your neck remains lurched forward, it’s adding more weight to the
area and pulling your spine out of alignment. It’s that serious. Before long,
you’ll end up with neck pain and poor postural alignment. It may not seem like
much now, but the effects are difficult to reverse, and cost time and money you
could be spending elsewhere.
So what do I do? I gotta catch
them all!
As a fitness and health professional
you need to stay vigilant on these issues. You may have clients who have
children who play the game, or who spend their own time playing the game on a
daily basis. While the exercise portion is superb, the posture problems that
could arise as a result are anything but that.
If you or someone you know loves
playing Pokémon Go, do it safely. Hold the phone or device at eye level and away
from your face so your peripheral vision will cover more space; you’ll have a
better sense of what’s happening around you. You will also be protecting your
neck by remaining in good postural alignment if you keep the phone higher. Your
goal is to have fun, not ruin the rest of your life by incurring a posture
related problem.
Let me reiterate, you want to
catch the Pokémon not the posture problems
If you’re walking around trying to
catch them all, or know people that do this, explain to them the issue with text
neck and how it affects their posture. They need to limit the time they spend
with their head and neck craned over as they stare at their devices. By holding
their device at eye level it helps keep their head and neck in a better
position, and it allows them to have a greater sense of what’s around
them.
I recently saw on the news that
someone got hit by a car while playing the game. Please, whomever you’re
speaking too about this, encourage them to be careful, and also keep a safe
posture while engaging this new activity. We can enjoy it, but we must do so
without hurting ourselves.
For those wondering about posture
related issues and need to understand the causes and fixes for issues like text
neck, I suggest you watch our FREE Webinar
Here. The webinar is designed to teach you how to assess and
correct posture. If you’re a fitness or health professional, the added bonus is
learning how you can actually take this knowledge and profit from it. |