Let’s be honest, most of us probably use our smartphones while we’re lying down on our sides, lounging around on the sofa or basically anywhere at all. This is actually not good for our backs and affects our spine if you have bad posture, too!
A 39-year-old man from Jiangsu, China discovered this the hard way when he suddenly had difficulty breathing after waking up one day. Based on a report by TVBS, the man surnamed Li had the habit of sitting in a really bad posture on his sofa while playing on his phone for hours. Many of us like to laze around like that too!
He was always glued to his phone and would only put it down when it was his bedtime. One day, he woke up and was shocked to find that he had breathing difficulties so he quickly rushed to the hospital to seek medical treatment. The doctor said that this was caused by his prolonged bad posture that resulted in damaging and stressing his spinal cord.
Apparently, this also caused him to suffer from a herniated disc in his spine and the spinal nerves were being compressed heavily due to his bad posture. The doctor who treated him said that it was fortunate that he managed to discover this problem in time otherwise Li might have been paralysed in the future. That’s scary!
The doctor advised others to be mindful of their postures when they were using their phones to prevent any further health problems. He said people often look down while playing with their phones and if they dipped their head lower than 60 degrees, the pressure between their cervical vertebrae would be equivalent to putting 27kg on their necks and spines.
The doctor recommended putting the phone up at eye level instead so that the head would not have to bend so low and also advised the public to use night mode or turn down the brightness level at night so that the eyes would not be too fatigued.
Remember to put down that phone periodically and maintain a good posture at all times!
Also read: Young Girl Always Lies on Her Side to Play Her Phone, Develops 50 Degree Curved Spine