Sitting down for more than six hours a day may literally be a pain in the neck.
Researchers said that the way we live and work is increasing the risk of neck pain every year, which can lead to hefty medical bills and extreme discomfort.
“The risk of neck pain is increasing annually, fueled by the rapid pace of modern society and changes in lifestyles and work habits,” a group of Chinese researchers explained in a systematic review published in the journal BMC Public Health.
They linked the rise in risk to a “significant” increase in “sedentary behavior” — which is particularly pronounced among younger populations — that is tied a shift to remote work following the Covid pandemic.
In this case, sedentary behavior was defined as seated activity during daytime walking hours that involved expending low amounts of energy, including watching the TV, working on the computers and using other screens.
The review’s authors noted that sedentary behavior comes with the associated risks of cardiovascular and other diseases, in addition to other uncomfortable changes such as reduced blood flow to the neck, an imbalance in neck muscle strength, diminished joint mobility and increased intervertebral disc pressure.
To examine the threat, they analyzed data from 25 studies. The studies included more than 43,000 participants from 13 countries.
Of the potential risky behaviors, using mobile phones was the worst and increased the likelihood of neck pain by 82 percent. But, the odds of neck pain fell to just 23 percent using a computer, and “watching TV was not a significant risk.”
Furthermore, increased amounts of sedentary time heightened the risk of developing neck pain. For individuals who were sitting for more than six hours a day, the risk increased by nearly 88 percent over people who were not engaging in sedentary behavior.
Much of the threat comes when people adopt postures that bend the neck and slouch their shoulders.
“As the duration of screen-based sedentary behavior increases, these habits can compromise the normal biomechanical structure of the neck,” the authors noted.
Neck pain is among the most common musculoskeletal disorders and approximately 70 percent of people globally experience it at least once during their lives, according to previous research.
The issue can be quite costly. In the U.S., people spend $87.6 billion on neck and back pain each year.
The first step to help reduce the risk of next pain is targeted preventative measures for high-risk groups such as women, the researchers said.
“Public health initiatives should encourage the reduction of sedentary behaviors and the promotion of physical activity to enhance neck health and alleviate the global prevalence of neck pain,” they added.
