Jack T. Dennerlein, PhD
Jack T. Dennerlein, PhD, director, Occupational Biomechanics and Ergonomics Laboratory, senior lecturer on ergonomics and safety, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston.
Let me guess—you bought an iPad or another electronic tablet or received one as a gift, and now you feel pain in your neck and upper back.
There’s no doubt that tablet computers are fun and useful gadgets (in fact, around 70 million people bought them in 2011). But a new study shows that, depending on how you position one when you use it, you could be seriously straining your neck and upper back.
The study was coauthored by Jack T. Dennerlein, PhD, director of the Occupational Biomechanics and Ergonomics Laboratory and a senior lecturer on ergonomics and safety at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. If you use a tablet, I think it’s important for you to know about his findings…
To study how head and neck postures vary when using a tablet, the researchers asked 15 experienced tablet users to use two different tablets—the Apple iPad2 and the Motorola Xoom—while they were seated in armless chairs and hooked up to an infrared motion analysis system that precisely measured their head and neck postures. They were given cases that allowed the tablets to be propped up at a variety of angles, and they were asked to perform typical tablet tasks such as browsing the Internet…reading newspaper articles…playing solitaire…reading and writing e-mail…and watching videos. Each user tried four different positions that are popular among tablet users out in the real world…
What the researchers found was that, except for when the tablet was in Table-Movie position, the users’ neck flexion (a measure of how much the chin points towards the chest) was quite large, about 15 to 25 degrees beyond a comfortable, looking-straight-ahead position. And this isn’t good! The concern, said Dr. Dennerlein, is that that level of neck flexion can strain the muscles in the back of the neck and the upper back, especially if a person uses the tablet in that position for more than just a few minutes at a time.
So how are you supposed to use your tablet without straining your neck?
But no matter which posture you choose, try to switch it up every 15 minutes if you can, said Dr. Dennerlein—that way you’ll vary which muscles you’re using and avoid straining one particular set.
For shoulder and neck stretches, read “Simple Stretches That Really Do Relieve Pain,” from our sister publication, Bottom Line Health.