Gen Z has a problem – and for once, it is not their attitudes or finances.
The age group is in the middle of a posture pandemic, with several young people reporting back and neck pain from hours spent hunched over screens combined with sedentary lifestyles.
A study from Slouch, which creates office furniture, revealed that 65% of Britons aged between 18 to 24 years old are experiencing back pain and posture problems – a percentage significantly higher than their millennial and Gen X counterparts.
“There is surely a posture pandemic happening among Gen Z,” Dr. Rodante Saballa, DC, MS, CSCS, CCSP, a board-certified chiropractic sports physician based in Los Angeles, US told Cosmetics Business.
“I think what is driving that is the increased prevalence of technology and computers and social media on our phones, whether that is work or lifestyle related.
“We are spending much more time on our phones in positions that cause us to fold forward, shorten the front side of our body, and adapt to the stresses of gravity and, due to this demand, we are seeing a lot more people being static.”
Dr Edward Scheid, Lead Spine Surgeon and founder of dedicated spine surgery practice NeuroSpine Plus in New Jersey, US, notes that “it is less about total screen time and more about how they are using these devices in such long stretches with their necks in a flexed position”.
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Scheid added: “That sustained forward head posture is the driving force behind it, and it is why many in this generation have reported posture problems.
“I have started seeing spine changes showing up in patients in their 20s.
“A decade ago, it was those who were in their 40s and 50s, and that is very telling of the duration and habit of how devices are used by the younger generations.”
The ‘tech neck’ takeover
A key driver of this growing issue comes from technology users sitting in unfavourable positions for hours on end.
Research from J.P. Orthopedic Hospital in India found that Gen Z spends an average of eight to 12 hours per day seated or bent over an electronic device, whether scrolling through social media, working from home or binge-watching a new series.
“Hours of phone and laptop time are really, really wreaking havoc on the neck and shoulders,” says Saballa.
“We know the human head on average weighs eight to ten pounds and the more forward it sits over the axial line, the more force gets loaded on the cervicothoracic [CT] junction – that CT junction where most people develop the hump on their back.”
Scheid adds: “The force on the cervical spine from this position change is dramatic, and the more the head tilts forward, it goes from roughly 27 lbs to about 60 lbs, which is seve
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