Playing mobile phones in bad posture brings problems to young people’s health.
By Christine Ge
Years of bad posture while using a smartphone have caused neck pain to university student Li Xiaotian. He now has an hour-long physiotherapy session twice a month and has to use plasters weekly to deal with the pain.
The 20-year-old student majoring in Chinese Studies found he could not turn his neck for the first time two and a half years ago.
“I wanted to look up at slides displayed in class. Suddenly my neck felt very stiff and I couldn’t move it. I was 18,” Li recalls.
The 20-year-old student Li now always suffers from dull neck pain, and the pain sometimes can be very intense when it attacks.
Li is lying on the sofa playing with his phone. (Photo courtesy of Li)
“When the pain comes, the soreness and swelling of my neck then becomes stronger. The intersection of my cervical spine and shoulder tingles. I can’t help but have to rub it with my hands,” he adds.
This young man was diagnosed with cervical lordosis, commonly referred to as “turtleneck,” six months ago during a consultation at Shenzhen Pingle Orthopedic Hospital, a facility renowned for treating spinal and musculoskeletal disorders.
The condition means his cervical spine has lost its natural curvature and is now curving forward, causing chronic discomfort and stiffness.
Using electronic devices for a long time with bad posture is confirmed to be the main cause of his neck pain by a doctor.
Li shares that he always lies down or lies on his back with his neck tilting forward while playing video games on his smartphone for hours without changing posture.
“I spent half a day on screen since I started my university study, mainly studying, playing video games, and scrolling social media posts. It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re in the middle of a game, and before I know it, my neck is stiff and sore,” he says.
Like Li, Sheng Siyuan also suffers from chronic body pain, as he uses electronic devices for many hours every day.
The 21-year-old university student has lower back pain, especially on his right side. He has been diagnosed as suffering from lumbar dorsal fasciitis and lumbar strain which means overuse of lower back muscles.
Slouching without any support for long hours when using his smartphone and laptop is found to be the main cause.
“I spend about three to five hours a day on my laptop, and seven to eight hours on my phone. After spending a long time on screen, the pain is unbearable. I can’t sit for a second without wanting to lie down,” he shares.
Sheng recalls his back pain first flared up near the end of his second year of study when he was having a final examination.
“At first, I didn’t pay much attention to it because the pain eased after some rest. The pain keeps coming back and hits me, especially when I do my homework on my laptop or look at my phone for hours, I realize that I can no longer ignore it,” he adds.
After seeing a doctor, he received ultrasound therapy once a week for two months to treat his lower back pain.
Sheng also has to exercise to build up the habit of adopting good posture and to be more mindful of taking breaks while using electronic devices.
The average age of cervical spine disease patients in China has dropped from 55 to 39, with 37% of the patients now under 30 in recent years, according to a report released by the Beijing Tsinghua Changgeng Hospital in 2023.
The report points out that bad posture and long hours of desk work are the main reasons.
Based in Bozhou, Anhui Province, yoga instructor Ming Jingyu, who has been teaching for seven years, observes more and more young people are suffering from body pain due to bad posture when using electronic devices.
Ming’s youngest student is an 11-year-old girl.
“The young girl has serious posture problems. Excessive smartphone use and long hours of sitting while studying have led to turtle neck, rounded shoulders, spinal misalignment, and even chronic lower back pain,” Ming says.
She warns that poor posture causes cervical spine rigidity and reversed spinal curvature, often followed by dizziness, nausea, and even breathing difficulties.
Ming advises young people to adopt better daily habits such as avoiding tilting their heads while using phones for hours and crossing their legs.
“Posture can be corrected by stretching and strengthening exercises if problems are detected at an early stage,” she adds.
Hui Ka-kit, a lecturer of the Physical Education Unit, PEU, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong points out that body pain caused by poor posture when using electronic devices is a global trend.
Rounded shoulders and turtlenecks are the two most common posture problems that lead to body pain among students,” Hui says.
“Many people like to slump into a sofa and play with their phones, including myself, but this posture damages the lower back because there is no support,” he adds.
Hui suggests young people to exercise more and reduce screen time.
Edited by Cathleena Zhu
Sub-edited by Emma Wei
