Tech Neck Relief in Calgary
Checking your phone at a red light, hunching over a laptop for a deadline, gaming for a few hours after work: none of it feels like much at the moment. But over time, those hours can add up to stiffness and discomfort through the neck, shoulders, and upper back.
At Memorial Drive Chiropractic and Massage, we help patients connect the dots between daily habits and the discomfort they’re feeling. If you’re looking for a Calgary chiropractor for tech neck, Dr. Ryan Wagemakers and our team develop individualized care based on your movement patterns and daily routine.
The Downside of Looking Down So Often
Tech neck is the term for neck and upper body discomfort that tends to develop from spending long stretches looking downward at a phone, tablet, or laptop screen. Your head weighs somewhere around 10 to 12 pounds, and the further forward it tips, the harder your neck and upper back muscles have to work to hold it up. Do that for hours a day, most days of the week, and the joints and muscles involved start to feel it.
Why It’s So Common Right Now
Modern routines don’t leave much room for movement. A few habits tend to show up again and again in patients dealing with tech neck:
- Extended phone or tablet use, especially scrolling with the head down
- Poor workstation setup, including screens positioned too low
- Long stretches working from a laptop instead of a proper desk setup
- Sitting in the same position for hours without a break
- Repetitive postures that place ongoing tension on the same muscles
How Tech Neck Shows Up Day to Day
Most people notice it first as stiffness, a neck that doesn’t quite turn as far as it used to, or tightness settling into the shoulders and upper back by mid-afternoon. Headaches related to muscle tension are common too, especially after a long stretch of screen time.
For many people, discomfort builds gradually through the day rather than showing up right away. It’s often worse by evening after hours of the same forward-leaning posture and eases somewhat overnight before the cycle begins again the next morning.
Untangling the Habit From the Pain
During your appointment, Dr. Wagemakers talks through your symptoms, your daily routine, and where screens actually show up in your day. From there, an assessment looks at posture, spinal movement, joint mobility, and muscle tension to understand the full picture.
Depending on what the assessment reveals, care may include chiropractic adjustments to improve joint movement, Active Release Techniques® (ART®), where appropriate, massage therapy to assist with relaxation and mobility, and practical ergonomic changes for your workspace.
Small changes, such as raising your screen, taking regular movement breaks, and improving your workstation setup, can play an important role alongside your care plan.
Experienced Chiropractic Care for Everyday Movement
Since graduating from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 2008, Dr. Ryan Wagemakers has built his practice around understanding how the nervous system, muscles, and joints influence each other, an interest rooted in his background in the biological sciences. He holds advanced training in Active Release Techniques® and is a registered member of the Alberta Chiropractic Association.
Patient Success Story: Finding Comfort During the Workday
“Why Would a 10-Year-Old Need a Chiropractor?”
It’s a question we hear from parents all the time.
“My child doesn’t have back pain. Why would they need chiropractic care?“
One family recently asked us the same thing. After seeing how much better one of the parents was feeling with chiropractic care, they became curious about having their 10-year-old son checked as well.
He wasn’t complaining of back pain. He hadn’t been injured. He was an active, otherwise healthy kid.
But like a lot of children today, he also loved his devices and could spend hours playing video games, looking down at a tablet, or sitting in the same position.
Sometimes we forget just how much time our kids spend looking downward.
Phones, tablets, gaming systems, laptops and schoolwork can mean hours every day with the head forward and the upper back rounded. Kids may not necessarily tell us something feels uncomfortable because, in many cases, that posture and tension has gradually become their normal.
That was the interesting part with this young patient.
When we actually asked him more specifically during his examination, he acknowledged that his neck did bother him at times. He just had never thought enough about it to complain to his parents.
He simply didn’t know any different.
During his examination, we looked carefully at his posture, spinal movement, areas of muscular tension and how his neck and upper back were functioning. There was considerably more tension throughout his neck and spine than his parents expected to see in a 10-year-old who had never really complained of pain.
With his parents’ consent, care was kept simple, gentle and appropriate for his age.
Before long, something else happened that his parents hadn’t expected:
He started getting excited about coming in for his adjustments.
He told us that he felt better and more active afterward. His parents also commented that, at home, he seemed less irritable and argumentative. Those kinds of changes are simply observations from this family, every child is different, and chiropractic care isn’t a treatment for behavioural concerns but it was wonderful for them to see him enjoying how he felt.
It also changed the way his parents thought about chiropractic care for children.
They realized that perhaps we don’t always need to wait until a child is hurting badly before we pay attention to how their body is functioning.
Our children are growing up in a completely different physical environment than we did. Devices, gaming, prolonged sitting and hours of screen time are now part of everyday childhood. That makes movement, posture, activity and awareness of physical tension more important than ever.
Imagine waiting years until that occasional neck tension becomes the neck pain an adult finally decides they can no longer ignore.
For this family, chiropractic wasn’t about treating a 10-year-old for “back pain.”
It was about taking a closer look, helping him move comfortably, encouraging healthy habits, and being proactive about his spine as he continues to grow.
Sometimes kids don’t tell us something is bothering them because they don’t realize feeling that way isn’t normal for them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can tech neck cause headaches?
Can a chiropractor help with tech neck?
Find Relief From Daily Screen Strain
If screen time is leaving your neck and shoulders feeling stiff or uncomfortable, book an assessment with Memorial Drive Chiropractic and Massage today.
