MUM Amy Appleby was used to dealing with the usual childhood illnesses . . . but her 11-year-old son Aiden’s bad back was a new one. She says: “He woke up one day a few weeks ago and said, ‘Mum, I can’t move my neck’. “He’d managed to get out of bed but he was in a panic, grabbing […]
MUM Amy Appleby was used to dealing with the usual childhood illnesses . . . but her 11-year-old son Aiden’s bad back was a new one.
She says: “He woke up one day a few weeks ago and said, ‘Mum, I can’t move my neck’.
“He’d managed to get out of bed but he was in a panic, grabbing his neck, saying he didn’t want anyone to go near him because he’d never experienced a pain like it.
“Because he’s so young, he thought back pain was something only old people got. I have to admit my first thought was very unsympathetic — that he’d been on the computer too much during lockdown.
“But I blamed myself, as I’d been trying to work and some days he’d been on screen most of the day.”
Although back pain costs the UK 31million lost working days a year, like Aiden most people don’t associate the condition with kids.
But according to doctors and back specialists, the current generation of children faces an epidemic of problems due to their addiction to tech.
It is common to see toddlers in buggies staring down at their phones or tablets and by the time they are in secondary school, kids spend an average of three to six hours a day in front of a screen.
And the fact children have been cooped up more than ever during lockdown, often gaming for longer periods, exercising less and now spending more time online for home-schooling, means they are at greater risk of debilitating pain.
But while adults using screens at work are assessed to ensure they use them safely, kids stuck at home on screens are often bent over kitchen tables, slouching on the sofa or slumped on their beds, with no such checks.
So it should be no surprise that they are already paying the price, with studies showing just three hours of daily screen use is enough to trigger shoulder and neck pain in children.
The latest research shows that back pain among children is rising. Between ten and 12 is the most usual age for it to start, often hitting the lower back and neck first.
Youngsters who have back pain are four times more likely to have it as adults, say Dutch researchers.
Like many parents during lockdown, Amy admits she took her eye off the ball about her son’s screen use.
The mum-of-one, a holistic therapist from Muswell Hill, North London, says: “While we were stuck inside with no school, Aiden had started to hunch over more.
“Some days he’d be on the computer the entire day, and only get up for meals and to do a few chores.
“It felt like his only outlet while we couldn’t go out, so there were times he was pretty much on it constantly.”
Aiden developed pain midway through lockdown and Amy says: “Because I train other people and give video sessions on how to look after your wellbeing, I got him to do a few breathing exercises to help him calm down.
“Then I rubbed my hands together to make some warmth and put them on the back of his neck.
“He started to stretch and move it so the pain started to go. I was so lucky I had those skills — otherwise Aiden would have been in terrible pain without anywhere to get help during lockdown.”
Physiotherapist Lorna Taylor says good posture habits are even more important for children, whose spines are still forming.
While a healthy spine should appear S-shaped from the side, with the head balancing on top of the spine, children who are slumping over to look down at gadgets in their hands are developing spines that look more C-shaped.
Lorna says: “Research has found that a typical head weighs about 5kg but tilting it just 60 degrees downwards can increase the load on the neck by up to 27kg.
“If a child stays in the same position, over time, the muscles in their neck and back will become overworked, overstretched, overtired and weaker as their heads poke forward.
“When the vertebrae in the back and neck get squashed as they curve forward, the discs between them can bulge out, putting pressure on spinal nerves and triggering back pain.”
There are other unwelcome side-effects, says Lorna. Children can also get headaches and because they are slumped over, they don’t breathe fully, making it harder to get oxygen to their brains and concentrate.
Physiotherapist Tim Allardyce agrees lockdown has made kids’ postures worse.
He says: “No school, no clubs and no sport means children are not getting the physical activity they should.
“We are really concerned about children adopting poor postures and getting weaker cores and muscles from the lack of exercise.”
Like many youngsters, 18-year-old Megan Newell got her first phone when she started secondary school.
By her early teens she was getting so much backache her mum was regularly giving her hot-water bottles and booking fortnightly massages to deal with the tension.
Megan, who lives near Nottingham, says: “After school I was either glued to my phone on social media or on my laptop for homework.
“I was on a screen three to four hours a night. By the time I was 12, I was getting aches at the top of my shoulders.
“A couple of times I had to come home from school because it hurt so much. The pain was like a seven or eight out of ten.”
It turned out Megan was suffering from scoliosis, or curvature of the spine — a condition that can be made worse in adolescence if young people have poor postures when they use their devices.
A growing body of research is finding that more children are suffering from a sideways curve of the spine, rounded backs or misaligned shoulders, which may be partly down to how they use their gadgets.
In Megan’s case, the curving of her spine got so bad that, at 14, she had to have surgery to straighten it out with two metal rods in a ten-hour operation that meant she had to take six weeks off school.
She says: “When you’re a young person who gets told to stand up straight, it’s annoying.
“But really we should hear it as a reminder to look after our backs that could save us a lot of pain further down the line.
“Now I’ve had these problems, I feel like telling my friends to sit up straighter so they don’t store up problems for themselves in future.”
TEACHING kids to use screens safely and training them to get into good habits now can make all the difference for their futures, says physiotherapist Lorna Taylor.
She adds: “There’s loads of information for kids about how to use the internet safely, which is great. But we also need to start showing our kids how to use screens safely for their spines and backs too.”
You can start by treating your children’s home workplaces like the office, and making sure they have the right set-up.
Amy did that for her son Aiden during lockdown – and she will continue to do so for homework even when he is back at school.
She says: “I adjusted Aiden’s chair to the right height so his hands and wrists are straight when he types.
“I also put a footrest under his seat so his knees and pelvis are in a better position and it’s easier for him to sit upright.
“But you don’t have to spend money – you could stick a load of catalogues under their feet.”
Back expert Lorna adds: “Try to make the screen roughly level with the child’s eyes by raising it up.
“If your child is working at the kitchen table, put a wedge cushion under their bottom to keep their pelvis in a better position so they are more naturally upright, and make sure they take exercise breaks every 30 minutes.
“It doesn’t have to be a lot, just enough to get their joints moving through the full range of motion.
“For older kids, get them to walk around and go up and down the stairs. Ask them to raise their phones to eye level or use voice texting more.”
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