CHILDREN who overuse mobile phones and tablets are in danger of developing spinal problems usually found only in adults, an osteopath has warned.
Gavin Routledge, Director of the Active X Backs clinic in Edinburgh, said that he and his colleagues are increasingly treating young people suffering back pain caused by spending too long hunched over screens and devices.
He is now developing an interactive education programme which he hopes to take into schools to engage children and help them learn about the importance of being active, and also how to adopt a good posture while minimising the time they spend staring at their phones.
It will target 9 to 18-year-olds, the age group are the most likely to develop back problems because of their use of technology.
Mr Routledge said: "I have a friend who’s a spinal paediatric surgeon. He’s seeing teenagers with problems that he never saw 15 years ago; effectively degenerative spines.
"I used to only see kids with sports or dance type injuries. Now I see kids with pains that have just crept up on them, normally the preserve of adults.
"There are two important reasons back pain is increasing; lack of activity, and poorer posture due to more time on small screens."
Maintaining a good posture is crucial for children as their developing spines are more susceptible to strain than those of grown adults.
The average adult human head weighs about 5kg and makes up approximately 8 per cent of the body’s weight, but in children it is disproportionately larger compared to their body size
This means that when they bend forwards there’s proportionately more force being supported by their spines and back muscles than in an adult, adversely increasing the strain on their spines and back muscles..
And this is exactly the 'hunched over' pose they adopt when staring at a smartphone or small computer screen.
Mr Routledge is calling on others to support his project, and offer to be test audiences or provide advice. He is especially interested in talking to teachers who can provide him with feedback on how to get children interested in protecting their spines by switching off their phones, and has already been working with education professionals at Knox Academy in East Lothian and primary schools in the area.
The osteopath said: "I’m putting a course together which I hope to deliver into schools to help kids avoid back pain now and as adults.
"The technology genie is out of the bottle. We can’t stop kids using technology, but we have to find ways of helping them do it more safely and helping them to be more physically active."
Mr Routledge's views have been backed by recent British Chiropractic Association (BCA) research, which found a direct link between back problems in youngsters and their use of mobile tech devices.
A spokeswoman from the BCA said: "Research in 2014 revealed that almost three quarters of 11 to 16 year olds spend between one and four hours a day on a laptop, tablet or computer.
"More than a third of parents said their child spends between one and six hours a day on their mobile phone.
"We are finding more and more that children are spending long periods of inactivity in the same position, often adopting a poor postural position and therefore with a risk of developing back and neck pain."
The BCA has issued guidelines to parents to help them get their children to be more active and to spend time away from phones and computers.
It call for children to be encouraged to be more active through walking to school, riding bikes or playing sport.
Youngsters should also be taught the correct way to sit to avoid hunching and maintaining poor posture for long periods, and to take frequent screen breaks where they get up and move around.
The spokeswoman added: "It’s important that children learn the correct way to sit when they’re using a computer. Teach them to keep their arms relaxed and close to their body and place arms on the desk when typing.
"Make sure the top of the screen is level with the eyebrows and the chair is titled slightly forward, allowing for the knees to be lower than the hips and the feet to be flat on the floor.
"Using a laptop or tablet away from a desk will encourage poor posture, so limit time spent in this way."
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