Screen misuse blamed for painful 'tech neck' problems
For five years, Naoise Champion endured painful headaches and neck cramps, unaware the source of her discomfort was in her hand.
The 25-year-old, who works in corporate hospitality, is constantly surrounded by screens, both at work and in her personal life.
Women are the primary sufferers of neck pain across nearly all age groups, except those aged 51 to 60, research reveals.
Dubbed 'tech neck', the condition stems from the misuse of technology, with women being particularly vulnerable to its debilitating effects.
Ms Champion said her discomfort worsened over years of technology use, with pain radiating from her back into her head.
"There was a ripple on effect with work, my social life and the way I interacted with my family and friends, all because of the pain," she told AAP.
An Australian Chiropractors Association survey found 68 per cent of women experience neck pain, compared to 60 per cent of men.
Despite the high prevalence of neck pain, about two out of five sufferers did not consult a healthcare practitioner, while little more than a quarter sought a formal diagnosis.
Instead, the vast majority (78 per cent) used over-the-counter pain relief for neck pain.
"I was really reliant on over the counter medications. It became the only defence against the sort of tension that I was feeling in my neck," Ms Champion said.
The Sydneysider started seeking chiropractic care when she was 22, and noticed a difference after four sessions.
"I learned the strategies to interact with technology in a healthy way," she said.
"It was postural correction techniques and easy behaviours that I could change. Even holding my phone at eye level made a dramatic impact."
The survey revealed proper posture, regular breaks, and correct ergonomics significantly reduced neck-pain prevalence.
Dr Kim Lie Jom, a chiropractor with 30 years of experience, said he was seeing a growing number of patients with technology-related injuries.
He believes the number of people suffering from tech neck is much higher than reported, describing the survey results as staggering.
"The survey showed during COVID-19 cases of children and teens experiencing neck pain surged," he told AAP.
"If this trend continues, the implications into the future would be quite dramatic."
With millions of Australians affected by neck pain, health bodies including the Australian Chiropractors Association are urging action to prevent tech neck across all ages.
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Some boys would never appreciate the impact they've had on a person's life, as they regard what they've done to be no more than a joke, he says. "The boys who were doing it, were doing it casually and with no malice," he adds. "These guys actually seemed really nice as adults and I don't think they understood how controlling their behaviour was." With June marking Pride Month, LGBTQI advocates like Justin Koonin know raising these issues is important. As co-chair of the NSW LGBTIQ+ Advisory Body, he has been helping develop a strategy to better include minority voices in legislation. Ensuring schools, police, transport officers and health professionals know how to treat the LGBTQI community better is a key focus. "We see the impact of casual homophobia in terms of the reported experience of mental health and wellbeing, and of safety and self-harm in our communities" Dr Koonin says. "You can't control what's in people's heads and you, to some extent, can't control what people can say but you can try and make it clear to people what hurts and what doesn't. "A lot of our work will be on increasing the level of awareness and exposure to the impact casual homophobia has in our communities." Although LGBTQI people need to lobby against casual homophobia, the straight community also has to play its part, Mr McCann says. He considers Wallaby-turned-senator David Pocock a notable voice in the LGBTQI marriage equality debate after declaring he wouldn't tie the knot with his wife until LGBTQI people could. "Pocock is a football star, incredibly handsome, incredibly charming and when he puts that kind of statement out there... that's got a lot more weight than the gay community lobbying for rights," Mr McCann says. NSW, ACT, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania have government LGBTQI advisory bodies but federal parliament doesn't. 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LGBTQI individuals endure poorer mental health outcomes than straight people due to a lack of social acceptance, according to Aids Council of NSW co-ordinator Madhuraa Prakash. "LGBTQI people are six times more likely to be diagnosed with depression and two and a half more times more likely to be diagnosed or treated for a mental health condition in general," they say. "It's unfortunate because you want to be able to talk about your life without having to edit yourself. "It weighs on a person to have to do that in your day-to-day life and leads to some bad mental health outcomes." Academic and psychotherapist Pol McCann specialises in microaggression and says although it sometimes stems from ill-intention, it is primarily patronising and performative. At the same time casual homophobia isn't exclusively directed at LGBTQI people either. Mr McCann says he's also heard from straight men who don't align with "typical" feminine or masculine ideas who have been impacted. He spoke with two straight men who were emotional, artistic and bullied by their peers at school. "They were absolutely lovely, smart, engaged guys but you could just tell they still carried the weight of the pain," he says. In the course of his work within the school environment, Mr McCann has spent time with the perpetrators of discrimination too. Some boys would never appreciate the impact they've had on a person's life, as they regard what they've done to be no more than a joke, he says. "The boys who were doing it, were doing it casually and with no malice," he adds. "These guys actually seemed really nice as adults and I don't think they understood how controlling their behaviour was." With June marking Pride Month, LGBTQI advocates like Justin Koonin know raising these issues is important. As co-chair of the NSW LGBTIQ+ Advisory Body, he has been helping develop a strategy to better include minority voices in legislation. Ensuring schools, police, transport officers and health professionals know how to treat the LGBTQI community better is a key focus. "We see the impact of casual homophobia in terms of the reported experience of mental health and wellbeing, and of safety and self-harm in our communities" Dr Koonin says. "You can't control what's in people's heads and you, to some extent, can't control what people can say but you can try and make it clear to people what hurts and what doesn't. "A lot of our work will be on increasing the level of awareness and exposure to the impact casual homophobia has in our communities." Although LGBTQI people need to lobby against casual homophobia, the straight community also has to play its part, Mr McCann says. He considers Wallaby-turned-senator David Pocock a notable voice in the LGBTQI marriage equality debate after declaring he wouldn't tie the knot with his wife until LGBTQI people could. "Pocock is a football star, incredibly handsome, incredibly charming and when he puts that kind of statement out there... that's got a lot more weight than the gay community lobbying for rights," Mr McCann says. NSW, ACT, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania have government LGBTQI advisory bodies but federal parliament doesn't. Although a health advisory has been established in Canberra, Dr Koonin says having a committee similar to NSW would benefit the community. *Lea is an anonymous name. Lifeline 13 11 14 Fullstop Australia 1800 385 578
