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"e parts of the body that are most affected by poor posture are your neck and your lower back. When you are looking down at your phone or computer all day, your back is in a permanent state of flex and enormous tension is being put on your muscles," Dr. Shah said. Sixty pounds worth of tension to be exact. A study in the Journal of Surgical Technology found that bending your head to look at your phone puts 60 pounds of pressure on your cervical spine, compared to just 10 pounds of pressure when your back is straight—making it no wonder why back pain is the leading cause of disability in America. "e advice I give my patients who work at computers or on their phones all day is that they should treat themselves like high-performance athletes. If you were a track runner, keeping good form would be an important part of keeping your body safe while you work. Working at a desk all day takes endurance and causes wear-and-tear on the body too—just in different ways," Dr. Shah said. Dr. Shah has observed fixing bad posture to be harder than quitting smoking for some of his patients. e reason for this is twofold: first, because posture is a behavior that is oen uncon- scious and, second, because keeping a straight back requires that we engage muscles that many of us have a difficult time accessing. "One good way to start developing these muscles is to practice in the car. When you're sitting at a red light, press your head and neck into the headrest. If you do this regularly, you'll activate those muscles and it will become easier to take that same position at your desk or at home," Dr. Shah said. As for Kardashian wrist, Dr. Shah recommends going hands-free as much as possible. Small adjustments to the way you use your phone can go a long way: like keeping your phone in your pocket or bag rather than holding it constant- ly, using both hands to text, rather than hyperextending the fingers on your dominant hand and placing your phone in a cradle while FaceTiming. "If you work at a desk, keep your screen above eye-level so you're forced to extend your neck. Take breaks, stretch, go for short walks and stay hydrated—because the disk spaces in your back require lots of water in order to function properly. If your job offers a standing-desk option, take it. If you work from home, put your computer on the kitchen counter and stand while you type." Dr. Shah sees first-hand the physical effects of an econ- omy that forces Americans to work longer hours under increasingly stressful circumstances. While we may not all be Kardashians, for many of us, those circumstances still include hours of sitting down, hunched over our devices. When it comes to working in America, we know the status quo won't change overnight, but you can protect yourself in the mean- time by working on your form. V U E N J . C O M 155

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