Tech Neck and Desk Posture Care in Perth

What tech neck feels like

Your head weighs around 5kg. It should sit balanced on top of your body like a ball on a stick, with your ear lined up over your shoulder. Balanced like that, your neck carries it easily.

But hours of looking down at phones, iPads and laptops, often slumped on the couch, drag the weight of your head forward. Don't believe me? Check your phone's screen time. Four or five hours a day can be a real shock.

With your head always forward of centre, your neck and upper back muscles have to work harder and harder. Over time, the upper back can stiffen, the discs can become wedged and worn, and the posture you've built can become permanent. That's tech neck.

Most people we see have three or more of these:

• A stiff, achy neck by the end of the working day
• Tight, sore shoulders and pain between the shoulder blades
• Headaches that start at the base of the skull
• Struggling to turn your head fully, for example when reversing the car
• Your head sitting forward of your shoulders in photos
• A rounded upper back or a hump at the base of the neck
• Tingling or pins and needles in the arms or hands (always get this checked)

Why it happens

It has become so normal in modern life that I now see it in children. It's crazy.

On X-rays, I'm seeing more people with a bony spur at the back of the skull, where the neck ligaments attach. It's where the body lays down extra bone as those ligaments work overtime holding the head up. Researchers have reported the same trend in young adults.

Years ago, the classic back problem was lower back pain in tradespeople. Now it's children, students and office workers, all with their heads carried forward. That's tech neck.

The real cost: you

Tech neck doesn't just hurt. It changes how you live. You stop wearing the sundress or the open-neck shirt, and reach for collars and lapels to cover the rounding at the base of your neck. Looking up feels hard, so looking down becomes the default. Sport gets harder.

And it doesn't stay in the neck. As your head drifts forward, your shoulders roll forward too, which can wear on the shoulder joints. Many people with tech neck also develop shoulder problems, often on both sides. Tight muscles at the front of the neck can feed into jaw (TMJ) problems and headaches.

What started as doom scrolling can turn into real physical problems. And yes, there's vanity in it too. If that's what it takes to get you to sort it out, sort it out. Live alive. Live you.

A note from Geoff

Tech neck is now the most common problem I see and treat in clinic. Most people focus on the neck: they stretch it, crack it, and do the chin tucks they saw on Instagram. But in my experience, the real driver is very often the upper back.

Your head weighs around 5kg. Balanced properly, it sits like a ball on a stick. But when your upper back stiffens and rounds forward, your head drifts forward with it, and the load on your neck climbs. A widely quoted figure from Kapandji's Physiology of the Joints suggests every inch (2.5cm) forward adds around 4.5kg (10 pounds).

So I start with the position of your whole spine. Have you lost the natural curves? Is your upper back rounding forward too much? Is your spine shifting to one side? Then we adjust you the way your body needs, not a one-size-fits-all crack, and give you specific stretches for your problem. That's the Vitality Method.

Try this right now

Stand with your back against a wall, heels a few centimetres away. Can the back of your head touch the wall without tipping your chin up? If not, your head may be sitting further forward than you think.

Most people are surprised by what they find. That gap is the clue we start from.

How we assess tech neck

We start with how you work: your hours, your desk, your screens, your phone use and how the pain affects your work and your life outside it.

Then we assess your posture standing and sitting, check how each level of your neck and upper back moves, test the strength of the deep neck and shoulder muscles, and screen for nerve involvement. Where clinically justified, X-rays may help show the shape of your neck and spine, and we'll explain why before referring you.

You'll get a clear explanation of what we find, in plain English, and a plan that fits around a busy work week.

What your plan will include

Here's exactly what happens when you come to Vitality with tech neck:

• About an hour of detailed consultation and clinical assessment
• Digital X-rays if clinically required, bulk billed with a valid Medicare card
• Specific adjustments to assess whether change is possible for you
• If change is possible, and it's what you want, a care plan built around you and your lifestyle
• Specific neck and upper back stretches and exercises
• Tools to support a healthy neck curve, and a pillow assessment
• A desk set-up review (bring photos of your workspace)
• Daily tips to improve your posture and help manage stress and tension

My promise to you

Hands-on care, exercise and changes to your desk and habits may help some people with posture-related neck pain, but everyone is different. I won't promise a set change in your posture or a set number of visits.

What I do promise is a thorough look at how your head, neck and upper back are sitting, an honest view on what's realistic, and regular check-ins on how it's going.