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                                                                             know it, my neck is stiff and sore,” he
 The Hunchback of Smartphones                                                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 over-
                                                                             use of lower back muscles.

                                                                                Slouching without any support
                                                                             for long hours when using his smart-
                                                                             phone 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 un-
                                                                             bearable. I can’t sit for a second with-
                                                                             out 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 fi-
                                                                             nal examination.
          Li’s sitting posture for daily phone use, stilted leg, slouch on the
 More young people suffer from health problems due to the long-term use of smart-  sofa. (Photo courtesy by Li Xiaotian)   “At first, I didn’t pay much atten-
 phones with bad postures.

 By Christine Ge

 ears of bad posture while us-  very stiff and I couldn’t move it. I was   This young man was diagnosed   be the main cause of his neck pain by a
 ing a smartphone have caused  18,” Li recalls.  with cervical lordosis, commonly re-  doctor.
 Yneck pain to university student      ferred to as “turtleneck,” six months     
 Li Xiaotian. He now has an hour-long   The 20-year-old student Li now  ago during a consultation at Shenzhen   Li shares that he always lies down
 physiotherapy session twice a month  always suffers from dull neck pain,  Pingle Orthopedic Hospital, a facil-  or lies on his back with his neck tilting
 and has to use plasters weekly to deal  and the pain sometimes can be very  ity  renowned  for  treating  spinal  and   forward while playing video games
 with the pain.  intense when it attacks.   musculoskeletal disorders.   on his smartphone for hours without
      changing posture. 
 The 20-year-old student majoring   “When the pain comes, the sore-  The  condition  means  his  cervical
 in Chinese Studies found he could not  ness and swelling of my neck then  spine has lost its natural curvature   “I spent half a day on screen since
 turn his neck for the first time two and  becomes stronger. The intersection of  and is now curving forward, causing   I started my university study, main-
 a half years ago.  my cervical spine and shoulder tin-  chronic discomfort and stiffness.  ly  studying, playing video games,
    gles. I can’t help but have to rub it with   and  scrolling social media posts. It’s
 “I wanted to look up at slides dis-  my hands,” he adds.  Using electronic devices for a long   easy to lose track of time when you’re
 played in class. Suddenly my neck felt   time with bad posture is confirmed to   in the middle of a game, and before I
                                                       CT of Li’s neck. (Photo courtesy by Li)
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