New National Survey Reveals Tech Neck a Growing Public Health Concern
Get the heads up on tech neck! – National Spinal Health Week 26 May-1 June
'Women consistently reported higher neck pain rates for all devices and settings (home and workplace) and were significantly more affected by chronic pain, mental health impacts, and productivity loss.'— Dr Billy Chow
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, May 25, 2025 / EINPresswire.com / -- Today, to launch Spinal Health Week, the Australian Chiropractors Association (ACA), released new data revealing 'tech neck' (Tension Neck Syndrome), is a significant public health concern due to overuse or misuse of technology with Australian women most susceptible to the debilitating condition.
An independent survey by Pureprofile, 'The impact of tech neck and neck pain in Australia' revealed misuse of technology does more than cause neck pain; it's impacting every aspect of our daily lives.
'The survey revealed women are the primary sufferers of neck pain in every age bracket, except 51-60, with women aged 31-40 (73%) the most affected, reflecting a life-long, daily exposure to tech,' said ACA President Dr Billy Chow.
'Women consistently reported higher neck pain rates across all devices and settings (home and workplace), and were significantly more affected by chronic pain, mental health impacts, and productivity loss,' he said.
The survey found female laptop users were 23% more likely than men to use non-ergonomic desks at work which was associated with a 16% higher incidence of neck pain than women using ergonomic workspaces.
Overall, 64% of respondents reported neck pain with 70% of sufferers reporting that neck pain impeded their movement or day-to-day activities, which is higher than previous statistics of 1-in-5.
'Neck pain is a widespread, increasingly gendered issue in Australia, with 68% of women and 60% of men reporting symptoms, most linked to poor posture, extended screen time, and non-ergonomic device use.
'With only 36% of neck pain sufferers being aware their neck pain was linked to device use, to help prevent tech neck we must adjust our thinking on how we use technology, how often and the way we use it,' said Dr Chow.
'It was concerning that 38% of neck pain sufferers did not consult a healthcare practitioner; with 78% using over-the-counter pain relief and 47% relying on prescription medication to manage neck pain.'
While medications may offer temporary relief from neck pain, academic studies show opioids do not benefit people with acute neck or back pain; comparatively, studies demonstrate commencing treatment for tech neck promptly is crucial in preventing further functional decline and progression to a chronic condition.
Australians reported their mental health, and productivity was impacted with 24% experiencing higher irritability, 20% poorer concentration and 23% disrupted sleep with women 43% more effected by productivity loss than men.
The survey revealed that proper posture, regular breaks, and correct ergonomics significantly reduced neck pain prevalence. Smartphone users who took regular breaks reported 33% less neck pain, while 85% of women device users who never took breaks experienced neck pain; compared to 61% of women who did.
A worrying trend observed since COVID-19 is the surge in children and teens experiencing neck pain, making them vulnerable to spinal health issues and further health implications now and in the future.
'ACA Chiropractors reported a sharp rise in tech neck among young people with 34% reporting a 'significant increase (+25%)' and 27% a 'moderate increase (11-24%)' in teens. It's vital we educate kids on healthy device habits to prevent long-term neck-related health issues,' said Dr Chow.
'With technology a vital part of our lives, not only must we monitor the length of time we use devices but must be cognisant that overuse and how we use devices can negatively impact our spinal and mental health.
'The ACA recommends limiting recreational screentime to two hours per day, holding devices at eye level to prevent bending the neck forward, changing posture and taking regular breaks every ten minutes to look away from the device and move the neck from side-to-side,' Dr Chow said.
Incorrect and non-ergonomic computer use is also a primary cause of tech neck. With 75.5% of Australians aged 16-to-64 using computers daily, incorrect and non-ergonomic use can cause musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).
'MSDs, including tech neck, cost our economy over $55 billion annually through direct health costs, lost productivity and reduced quality of life, making the burden on Australians and our economy significant.
'Anytime you use a laptop or desktop computer it's essential to take regular breaks, move and stretch, and use correct ergonomics to help prevent tech neck,' he said
Get the heads up on tech neck, visit www.spinalhealthweek.org.au.
Media Centre
Alice Collins
Insight Communications
email us here
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
X
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Atomic Kitten's Natasha Hamilton reveals skin cancer diagnosis
Atomic Kitten singer Natasha Hamilton has revealed she was diagnosed with skin cancer, saying she initially thought it was a 'mosquito bite'. The 42-year-old said she received the diagnosis last year after feeling an itch on her back following a holiday in Majorca while speaking on Good Morning Britain. She said: 'I'd been on holiday, and I wasn't actually in the sun a lot, because my baby was only about five months old, and I was breastfeeding. "Were you using sunbeds a lot?" Atomic Kitten singer Natasha Hamilton says she had a 'massive wake up call' after she was diagnosed with skin cancer. In 2024, Natasha found this suspicious mole on her back, which was subsequently diagnosed as what's called a 'basal-cell… — Good Morning Britain (@GMB) June 6, 2025 'And one afternoon I had her on my lap, and my back was in the sun and I burnt, and I don't know whether it was later that day or the next day, I had, like an itchy spot on my back, and I just thought it was a mosquito bite. 'Didn't think nothing, you don't get to look at your back very often, do you? It's tucked away. 'I felt it and went, 'oh, mosquito bite', it wasn't until maybe four weeks later, when I was at home and it was itching, and I was like, hang on a minute that seems a bit long for a mosquito bite. 'I asked my husband to have a look, and he went, 'oh, that's not a bite', and he took the picture, and when I looked at it, I went, 'okay, I think I know what that is'. 'Originally it had just been a dark freckle that I'd had on my back for many years, it wasn't raised, it wasn't a mole, it was just a freckle.' Hamilton went on to say she was later diagnosed with a 'basal-cell carcinoma', and added that she thought her use of sunbeds during her early days in the girl group in the late 1990s and early 2000s could have contributed. She added: 'People of my age will probably feel the same, or remember, if you were going on a night out you used a sunbed because you wanted that sunkissed look to make yourself feel good and give you a bit of confidence. 'If I was going to do something like Top Of The Pops or a big TV show, I'd want my look sunkissed, so we would go to the sunbeds. 'There was a sunbed shop based in the hotel that we stayed in all the time in London, and I'd use tan accelerators, and I can honestly say I don't think there was ever a time when I went on a sunbed that I didn't burn. 'Looking back now, because I'm type one skin anyway, I'm not supposed to be in such intense sun.' Hamilton's mother Maria was diagnosed with the same type of cancer after Hamilton noticed a mark on her face, and urged her to get it checked. She said her mother was initially told by doctors that the patch of skin was 'nothing', before she urged her to ask to be referred to a dermatologist a year later, who told her it was skin cancer 'straight away', before arranging for her to have them removed. Speaking in 2022, the singer, who has four children, said she had changed her lifestyle to lower the risk of increasing her chances of skin cancer following her mother's diagnosis. As part of Atomic Kitten alongside Kerry Katona and Liz McClarnon, before Katona was later replaced by Jenny Frost, Hamilton scored 13 UK top 10 singles and four UK top 10 albums – they are best known for the songs Whole Again and Eternal Flame.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Concerning roadside find reveals dangerous trend landing Aussies in hospital
Dozens of brightly coloured canisters found strewn across a dirt path on the side of a suburban road have shone a spotlight on a concerning trend landing Aussies in hospital. The 3.3-litre cylinders featuring eye-catching graphics and the phrase 'experience heaven on earth' horrified a passerby in Melbourne this week, not only because they had been illegally dumped, but due to the danger of their contents. 'So sick of these! What hope do we have of stopping younger people behaving like this?' the frustrated local wrote online. Sadly, it's an all too familiar scene across the country. Nitrous oxide is classed as a dissociative anaesthetic and is an odourless gas used to make whipped cream and put doctors' patients at ease. But it can have devastating – or even deadly – consequences if misused. Despite increasing media coverage of the risks involved, the warnings haven't stopped people from inhaling the gas, often referred to as 'nangs', in search of a quick high. There's an increasing number of case studies documenting people who have presented to emergency departments with severe nerve and spinal cord damage, Dr Jodie Grigg, who has been monitoring the use of illicit substances for the National Drug Research Institute for over 12 years, told Yahoo News. 'It may start off with some tingling and numbness in their fingers and toes, or difficulty keeping their balance, and that can progress to the complete inability to walk… they can lose the brain/body connection and without early intervention, those harms can be permanent,' she said. Use of the gas inactivates vitamin B12, she explained, which can lead to stripping the lining around a person's spinal cord. Psychiatric harms can also occur, such as psychosis and hallucinations. 'There's acute risks as well, like cold burns, damage to the lungs, falls due to lightheadedness and losing consciousness. There was at least one case where a Schoolie fell off a balcony and died.' While the majority of those who land in hospital have been using large amounts for a prolonged period, there are reports of exceptions with harm occurring from a single major binge. 🏥 Teen's tragic diagnosis after getting addicted to nangs: 'I can't walk' 🧍♀️Woman's battle with 'deadly' illness after vaping for less than a year 💰 Record $10 million bust highlights growing scourge in Australia Between 2010 and 2020, researchers have observed a 'steady upward trend' in reports of nitrous oxide use, which spiked 'steeply' in 2019 and continues to 'fluctuate' today, Dr Grigg told Yahoo. Curious about what may have led to the increase, she 'did a bit of a deep dive online', and discovered a plethora of websites across the country offering large nang deliveries in under 30 minutes. 'The increase in use may relate to the increased access at low cost and in bulk, and also the emergence of those 24/7 express delivery services, which have a lot of promotions, social media advertising and bulk-buy incentives. 'They're also increasingly marketed with flavours and appealing packaging… there's also increasing references in pop culture and ongoing perceptions of safety. I think the nitrous market has become a bit of a Wild West at the moment.' Hospitals and health authorities are seeing the 'shift' first-hand, with people now admitting they're using a 3.3-litre tank a day instead of the smaller bulbs. 'The literature suggests many of the more recent severe cases are linked to people using those larger canisters,' Dr Grigg said. While delivery services are 'very popular', research show users are most commonly buying nitrous oxide from convenience stores. 'We performed an analysis which looked at factors that might contribute to people using in high-risk ways, and the delivery services were associated with people using higher amounts per session. But the convenience stores were associated with people using it more frequently,' Dr Grigg told Yahoo. Under Australian Consumer Law, the sale of nitrous oxide for legitimate purposes is legal, however the gas was reclassified as a Schedule 6 poison by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in 2022, requiring all canisters to feature a warning label. But 'most people aren't actually observing and recalling those warnings, which suggests possibly the need for plain packaging', Dr Grigg said. To help curb the problem, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia have introduced new regulations, with the latter banning the sale of larger canisters and restricting purchases of 10 gram canisters to registered food and beverage businesses. Any retailer caught breaking the laws – which were introduced seven months ago – can be hit with an on-the-spot fine of up to $6,000, though none have been issued yet. In SA, it's illegal to sell nitrous oxide to anyone under 18, or between the hours of 10pm and 5am, while in Victoria, a supplier cannot sell it to anyone they suspect is going to inhale it. Individual state regulations may help deter some Aussies from supplying or trying to purchase the gas, but it's likely some retailers will continue to sell illicitly due to profits involved, Dr Grigg explained. 'It's really about striking the right balance, because if you completely prohibit it there are concerns that it could encourage a riskier, underground market to counterfeit substances and encourage riskier use of other inhalants,' she said. 'There are adverse risks that need to be considered so the supply control really needs to be approached with some caution.' Dr Grigg believes that to reduce high-risk patterns of use, "regulatory action should ideally be one component of a broader public health response that also includes demand and harm reduction strategies'. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
Medscape
7 hours ago
- Medscape
210-Day Flood Health Risks: What Doctors Must Know
Flood exposure is linked to increased risks for hospitalisation for all causes and for 10 specific conditions, with relative risks ranging from 1.11 to 1.61 and persisting for up to 210 days. An analysis of 300 million hospitalisation records from 747 communities in eight countries and territories showed that floods accounted for as much as 0.27% of all-cause admissions. Background Floods are the most frequent natural disaster, with approximately 23% of the global population exposed to floods with depths > 0.15 m during once-in-100-year flood events. Projections indicate that the severity, duration, and frequency of floods will escalate due to increasingly frequent extreme precipitation events and rising sea levels caused by global warming. In addition to the direct health impacts caused by the physical force of floods or related accidents, emerging evidence suggests that flooding may have broad indirect effects on human health. Current epidemiologic studies on flood-related health impacts focus primarily on disease incidence, mainly digestive diseases, infectious diseases, and mental disorders. Understanding the impact of flooding on hospitalisation risk is crucial for healthcare providers to prepare for increased demand following such events. METHODOLOGY: Researchers examined daily hospitalisation data from 2000 to 2019 in 747 communities across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, averaging 13 years of follow-up per community. The analysis included 300 million hospitalisation records, with a flood day defined as any day from the beginning to the end of flood events in each community. Associations between flood days and daily hospitalisation risks were estimated using a quasi-Poisson regression model with a non-linear distributed lag function, followed by a random-effects meta-analysis. TAKEAWAY: The cumulative relative risks [RRs] of hospitalisation after flood exposure were 1.26 (95% CI, 1.15-1.38) for all causes, 1.35 (95% CI, 1.21-1.5) for cardiovascular diseases, and 1.61 (95% CI, 1.39-1.86) for diabetes. Associations were modified by climate type, flood severity, age, population density, and socio-economic status, with stronger effects observed in communities with higher population density or higher socio-economic status. Flood exposure contributed to up to 0.27% of all-cause hospitalisations, 0.41% of cardiovascular disease hospitalisations, and 1.93% of diabetes admissions. Health impacts persisted for up to 210 days after exposure ended, except for infectious diseases (90 days) and mental disorders (150 days). IN PRACTICE: 'Health service providers should anticipate increased health risks during and after floods and prepare for the heightened service demands, possibly through strengthening capacities in medical supplies, human resource management, and triage strategy. Public health institutions should closely monitor the reasons for hospitalisation after floods as a method for disease control and efficient resource allocation in the aftermath of floods. Policymakers should prioritise enhancing health system resilience to natural disasters, recognising that overwhelmed health systems after floods can lead to severe disease burden and even avoidable deaths,' the study authors wrote. SOURCE: The study was led by Yuming Guo, PhD, and Shanshan Li, PhD, of the Climate Air Quality Research Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and included Paulo Saldiva, MD, PhD, of the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo in São Paulo, Brazil, and was published online on April 08, 2025, in Nature Water. LIMITATIONS: The Dartmouth Flood Observatory dataset, which primarily checks events mentioned in news reports, may under-represent flooding, particularly in South America. The exposure assessment was conducted at the community level rather than at the individual level, as the exact residential addresses were kept confidential. Similarly, a community may have both flooded and non-flooded areas, which has the potential to lead to underestimation of risk. DISCLOSURES: The study was supported by the Australian Research Council, Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, and National Research Council of Thailand. The funders had no role in the study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, writing of the report, or the decision to submit the paper for publication.
