 Instilling and enforcing good postural habits and limiting excess time is critical to the physical well-being of this young population. Aloha and welcome to Movement Matters. I'm your host, Christine Linders. I've been practicing physical therapy for over 23 years and am a board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist. My show is designed to provide you the best tip strategies and techniques to help you help your body feel better, move better, and perform better. In January, I'll be talking about improving posture across our lifespan. Today's topic covers the dilemma we face in society regarding our youth suffering from pain and early postural deformities from excessive use of devices in poor position. Let's take a look at image one and two. These images highlight improper ways our kids are spending time using their devices. These positions pose a threat to the neck and back and place excess strain on these young developing spines. In the past five years, I've been seeing more and more preteen, teenage, and young adults coming in with neck and back pain from prolonged use in these positions. I've even seen deformities in the neck and upper back occurring from excessive slouching. What we need to do is enforce good postural habits while on these devices, as well as limit time spent on them. Now let's look at image three and four. These images show the corrected way to sit while using the device as to not harm the spine. I'm happy to welcome two former patients and dear friends of mine, Tajma Leti and her teenage daughter, Kaley Grace, to talk about their personal experiences with this matter. Aloha Tajma and Kaley Grace. Welcome to Movement Matters. Aloha Christine. Aloha Christine. Hi ladies, how are you doing? Good. How are you? I'm good. I'm so happy to have you on the show. So Tajma and Kaley Grace were my patients and became my friends when I was working in Connecticut before I moved to Hawaii. And I wanted to talk to them specifically because I was seeing both of them for back pain. And one of the things I used to mention throughout my treatment was nagging or gentle reminding to sit up straight. So girls, I know we can't see you live right now, but are you sitting up straight? Yes, we are. Okay, very good. Now viewers, are you sitting up straight? Okay, good. If you're not, squeeze your shoulder blade and sit up straight while you enjoy this show. So Tajma, I wanted to ask you how much time do you spend on your device a day? I mean, in general, like, do you find yourself using it for 30 minutes at a time? Are you on and off it all day long? Are you spending our blocks of time on it? Well, not ours blocked, but I would say on and off throughout my day, including into the evening. Okay, now, Kaley Grace, how much time you're in school right now? You're a high school senior, is that right? Yeah, I am. I can't believe how time has flown. So how much time do you spend on a device during the day, including school time? Hours at a time doing homework and classwork. Okay, so are you, where are you sitting? Are you sitting in like a desk chair at home when you're doing homework at the table in bed on a sofa? Like, what is your position that you find yourself studying most? Mostly sitting at a desk or a table standing up. That's fantastic. I love it. Why did you decide to do that? Because when I first started seeing you, I remember complaining about, like, my back hurting and you were like, it's because you're hunched over at the computer all the time. So I changed my position to standing, which is better posture and I can see it eye level. I'm so proud of you. That's great. That's, that's, that warms my heart. I also want to know now, Tajma, do you experience any discomfort when you are using your phone, looking at a tablet, a laptop, whatever device you're using? Yes, I do. If I'm not using proper posture, I certainly do. Even sometimes, a tingling in my arms, if I'm not sitting correctly, so I now have a kickstand on the back of my smartphone. Great. So I can also use it at a higher level and proper that what I'm having to have it in my hands continuously. That's fantastic. I love it. I love hearing these things because there's so many ways that we can modify the cell phones, the tablets. I did a show, actually I was interviewed last year, my first time on this, on this thing, Tech Hawaii. And there's so many ways we can modify how we look at our devices, not just laptops, but now that we're spending more time on phones and tablets doing the things that we used to have to have a desktop or a laptop for, so good for you. That is fantastic. So I got to ask you, Tajma, when you were growing up, do you remember spending a lot of time sitting or do you remember your parents or your grandparents reminding you of your posture? What was your childhood experience? Well, as a child, we spent a lot of time, because I grew up in a warmer climate than what I'm living in currently. But as a child, I was reminded about my posture, but we were very more so active then, outdoors, going up in the south on the part of the US. And I was reminded, but now I notice presently that much more of a lead of reminders. It's just like there's been a downturn in how people are sitting, that posture is very poor. And it's like a whole generation of young people and with little age on down. Anyone that's tech savvy or uses a smart device, it seems like I see a lot of people just throughout my day using a very poor posture and being hunched over. I do too. And so it's one of the things the last five years since I've been talking about posture more and kids and devices, I think as the devices became more commonplace, I was noticing the same thing. And I was asked one of my 15, it was just 14 at the time, I asked one of my other patients like, Hey, I need you to sit up straight at school. She had a fracture in her spine from slouching so much studying at night in her bed with her legs out straight, slouching at school and then on her phone in a little ball. I took a picture of her and showed it to her. She couldn't believe it. But I asked her to sit up straight in school. And she kind of was hesitant. So I said, you know what, start here, go to school tomorrow and look around and see who is sitting up straight. And she came back and said, I only have like two people that are somewhat sitting up straight. So when I was growing up and probably when you were growing up the same thing, we were considered like, you know, they made fun of you if you slouched. And so everybody was kind of sitting up straight. And there was that one or two kids that were kind of hung over, you know, looking like, you know, unmotivated. And so the rest of us kind of, you know, kids, you tease them for how they're sitting. But nowadays, like what you just said about adults and kids, you're seeing this slouchy posture revolution where when you sit up straight, this is the most common comment I get from any one of my patients young and old is this feels weird. I feel silly. I feel like I'm one of those guys in the weight room puffing my chest out and I take a picture of them and show them that you're not doing that though. I know it feels like that you're actually standing up proud and tall and in good alignment to the way we were designed to be when we were standing or sitting erect, erect with our ear over our shoulder, our shoulder over our hip, our hip over our ankle joint. And so have you ever run into that with anyone that you noticed if you mentioned to sit up straight, like you have three daughters. So have any of them felt weird when you mentioned sit up straight and they noted that it just didn't feel comfortable or it felt like over over straight? No, you're exactly right. Not just my three doors, but even for myself, when I correct my posture, it initially did feel quite uncomfortable and then I wasn't sitting correctly, even though I was, I guess before I had trained myself in the bad behavior of being slouched over. Yes. So once I corrected the posture, it took some getting used to. I think that's great. And Kayla, I'm going to get to you in a second. But Tajma, that trained your body that you mentioned, it's a habit. It's a habit that we learned like brushing our teeth, like sitting up straight, like setting an alarm to wake up in the morning. And so we had that habit instilled in us because people nagged at us. Everybody was sitting up straight. It was a thing to do. That's what we did when we were younger. That's that generation that we were brought up in. And now it's the opposite. The habit didn't form of sitting up straight and now everyone else around us is also slouching. So Kayla Grace, what do you see in the other teenagers that you're in high school with right now? Do you notice? Have you looked around? Because I know, and I know because before I left Connecticut, you had much better posture. I was so proud of you then. But now I haven't seen you in a year. What is it like in school? What's the trend you're seeing? I'm in school. I am seeing a lot more kids slouched over their desks on their laptops or on their phones, especially in school, like when you're not supposed to be on your phone. It's on your phone anyways. And they're like hunched over under the desk trying to hide. One of my friends was having back problems. And she kept complaining about her back hurting. So I told her just sit up straight. Everything was fine. You're on your phone or on your laptop. And she actually said she felt a lot better. But then she kind of got away from that. And now she's back slouching. That's wonderful, though. I mean, that's so great that you're helping other people. I mean, that's that's what we need right now is, you know, reminders from our peers that that's the way to do it. And so I'm so excited that you reminded her because she did feel better. Now she just needs to form that habit a little bit better. Maybe you can send her a text message or something at home after school, because we know you shouldn't be on your your phone at school. So now you're a senior, you're getting ready to go to college. And I had this very I listened to this very fascinating talk on HPR. I think it was two weeks ago I fell into it. I was in my car. And they were talking about in college, this astronomy university professor at the University of Colorado or a university in Colorado is now having his students get extra credit if they are on this app called flipped, I believe. And he can tell if they're on the app for the hour, and he's giving them extra credit, because the research that he's done has shown that the kids and the students that were off their devices for that one hour class that he had, their grade was 5% better. And he was trying to explain how when you're multitasking, you actually can't function. And that's one of the things and the problems with cell phones, or I didn't even think about the fact that people and students would be slouching under their desk, because you're not supposed to be on their phone. So that's on your phone while you're in class. So that's another interesting point. I do you have any apps that you use, Kaley Grace, right now to stop messages maybe from coming through while you're in class? Not on my not like actively I didn't download it. I usually sometimes just turn on do not disturb. Oh, that's my school. I kind of school in a bad area. So I don't really get a lot of messages or calls. They have I think they have a jammer. That's a great idea. That's a great idea. That's what I was wondering. So we're going to go to a break. And we'll be right back. I'm Christine Linders. This is Movement Matters. I'm speaking with Taj Maleti and her daughter, Kaley Grace Freeman, about how to improve your posture while you're on your devices. We'll be right back. Stay tuned. Aloha. I'm Winston Welch, host of Out and About. It's a show that we have every other Monday on Think Back Live Here. We explore a variety of topics that are really interesting. We explore organizations, events, and the people who fuel them in our city, state, country, and world. We've got some amazing guests on here like all the shows at Think Tech. So if you want to catch up on stuff, tune into my show every other Monday and other shows here on Think Back Live. It's a great place to learn about stuff, to be informed. And if you have some ideas, come on my show. Let's talk about it. See you later. And Aloha. Aloha and welcome. My name is Mark Shklav. I am the host of Think Tech Hawaii's law across the Sea Program. Every other Monday at one o'clock, I am here on deck with various guests talking about different topics of the world and the ocean and international law, different areas where we all have seen and want to travel to and learn about. Please join me for my next law across the Sea Program. Aloha. I'm Kristi Linders for Movement Matters and we are talking with Kayla Grace and her mother, Taj Maleti Freeman, about how to improve your posture while you're on devices that we need to use in this world. So Kayla Grace, we were just talking about you getting ready to go to college and this astronomy professor in Colorado who mentioned this app that called FLIPD that when his students are on this app for the hour in their astronomy class, they get 1% extra credit. And he also did research and showed that they also had a 5% improvement in their grade, which he mentioned as almost a whole letter grade on his show. So one of the things that he mentioned I was intrigued with as I've done a mindfulness talk and talked about cortisol and stress in your brain was that he mentioned that when a text message comes through, they did functional MRI scans of the brain, it lit up like a response to something exciting. I forgot the word he used, but he said that's like a drug and that's where people get so addicted sometimes when a text comes in they want to see it, they want to see it right away. And that's also what impaired those students from being able to have that extra 5% because they were distracted and the brain's reaction. So do you think that I mean you said you put yours on a do not disturbing college so maybe you could start to spread the word to some of your friends you should look up the app FLIPD maybe that'll help some of your friends in school that are kind of hunched over because they want to get to their phone during class because they just can't they can't resist because of what's happening in the brain when the when the text message comes through I would like to look at that sounds like a good app to you and to show my friend I actually have a lot of friends that don't know how to get off their phone that might be helpful. I think that's great so we're going to go to an image now image number five that shows someone just relaxing by the poolside on their phone and this is a similar position that I mentioned earlier about the 14 year old girl that I'd seen that had a fracture in her back she was studying in bed like this so for hours with her legs straight and she didn't mention it until I had corrected her sitting posture you know when she came in to see me and was wondering why her back still hurt and that's what she told me I said you're not sitting in bed like this are you and she said yeah I'm sitting like that with my legs straight out and so I have image number six which shows what can happen to your neck when you're looking down prolonged like that on the phone so this is someone who's in her mid 20s who had been looking at phones for probably at least 10 years now kids have them from you know three or four years old devices they're looking down on but I took this picture of her because she was having neck and back pain and I wanted to let her know yes we can correct that it's going to take some time but those first few vertebrae when you're hanging your head face down start to migrate more forward over time it's not in one year it's over several years because your head is heavy it's between six and eight pounds and so the head is hanging on those vertebrae so eventually you become formed like the position you hold yourself in most and so the vertebrae are accommodating for your head being forward so that is something that I wanted to point out that another problem and why people are getting back pain and neck pain is because your spine the the form of your spine is actually changing if you're doing it for extended periods of time over a duration like two years so now in image number seven you'll see that this is a picture of someone's looking at their phone just relaxing but the head you can see the head propped up against the sofa that's the same thing as looking down minus gravity it's creating a stress right on those vertebrae so in image number eight that's a good way if you want to lay down and watch your phone just keep your spine straight hold the phone up rest your elbow on the sofa and then you're not putting any dangerous harm on the young developing spine this is my nephew he's 10 years old so I was hoping to have them call in but they're in activities so in image number nine here's an image of my niece on the left side of your screen just relaxing looking at her phone texting friends and I showed her in the right side of your screen hey this is how you prop the pillows scoot your buttocks back support your back so now her neck doesn't have the pressure of the headboard pushing it forward so Tajma and Kayla Grace do these pictures look familiar to you or Tajma have you seen your girls doing this as they've been growing up over the years being able to have devices yes I have they've been using phones because of acts after school activities with all three of them probably since elementary school yeah and so it's just been a part of their the life that they can remember as far as they can remember that they've always had a device and so I chastain them and sometimes they loved into things been distracted you know that type of thing and and I have to remind them more often it's not easy right it's not easy to be that constant bug in their ear no you're exactly right it's all a constant reminder you know you're messing up your back I can speak from experience you know you need to really you know work on your posture just be more conscious of it yeah I think I think that's great I think that the reminders are good and also I've told some younger kids too that if you're going to be on your phone or I don't know half an hour hour just relaxing you're just letting your brain unwind you're watching a video or something I tell them put a little alert or a buzzer to go off or set the timer to buzz every 10 minutes because when you're when you're younger or when you're a teenager and you aren't sitting up straight because everyone else is doing it or it's already a habit you don't want to think about your body and if you don't have pain you won't think about your body so Kayla and Tajma you both correct your posture and notice the pain relief as did Kayla your friend in school she just hasn't developed the habit so she's forgotten and gone back into her habit of holding your body that way I think those reminders or phone reminders or tablet buzzes or watch buzzes or whatever it is are good to set up because that way it every time the buzzer goes off oh that's right I gotta sit up straight oh I gotta get the pillow behind my back oh I'm hanging my head down again and pretty soon you don't need those reminders because your brain and your nervous system are now instilled in every 10 minutes all of a sudden oh you start self-correcting without that reminder so that's also another tip for people watching that they can have their children or their teens or their college students do to remind them without a verbal reminder without that verbal reminder coming in your ear all the time you have your phone to remind you so let's talk a brief bit about New Year's resolutions I think that now hopefully everybody watching the show is going to set the resolution to be more mindful of their posture so that it can go into 2020 with less neck pain less back pain and overall just less physical strain on their body did you ladies set any resolutions Tajma do you have any goals or anything for the year I like to think of resolutions as goals something you want to do or accomplish what are they well a few of them um one in regards to my health I want to be more mindful of what I'm consuming mindful of being more active be more intentional about um you know upping my activity level excellent um and strengthening you know not just my spine but just other areas in my health as I get older something things that I just think to be more um conscious of um also um there's some things in the area of advocacy um for individuals with special needs there's something that I plan to get more serious about this year in 2020 that is wonderful I love that so now Kayla Grace did you set goals or resolutions or aspirations for this coming year well since I'm graduating from high school like one of the biggest goals is just a path just to get out of high school and get into college that's great um but I do want to um worry more about my health I do notice that um I remember when we first saw me you pointed out the like knot I had in the back of my neck that kind of it looked like I'm hunching over for all like all those years I was hunching over and you pointed out how it they are naturally now because how I was sitting um so I want to fix that even more so I want to sit up straight more I want to strengthen my core yes um I want to be able to dance for as long as I want at prom oh that's great that I think that's great so you remember then when you sit up straight and squeeze your shoulder blades you need to tuck it in as well and pull your belly button in to engage your anatomical girdle if you remember to do that you'll be able to dance all that you want at your prom which is in June um I believe so yeah or it might be in June yeah I believe so okay well those are great resolutions so I made some goals as well this year and some of them are health conscious also I need to spend more time relaxing I do do mindfulness but I've been pushing myself hard for three years and I went on a cruise with my family for Christmas it was it was lovely and I realized after that cruise I hadn't truly felt relaxed in probably about three years so one of my goals is to keep this calm that I have achieved while being on the cruise and some of the other goals are professional goals I would like to increase my impact on people all over the world as you did today by being on our show so that we can have a revolution of awareness to posture and getting rid of neck and back pain or stopping the risk that we place on our bodies that we don't know we're doing with devices or certain positions and then the third I mean I have a many of them but the third is something that I haven't been able to do since I was like a preteen or a teenager and I used to try with my friends in my driveway I could skip rope like the best of them but I could never do double dutch I every time I launched into those ropes it hit my head it hit my shoulder I tripped on it so I by the end of 2020 want to be able to jump into that double dutch rope and we just use like the dog leash rope jump into that double dutch rope and do it so do you girls can you do it please tell me that you can so when you talked about dancing it reminded me of that well um I don't have like I'm I have two left feet so thank you no that's like me maybe I can't even like jump off the ground without landing wrong so I can't double dutch but I remember mom you said that you used to double dutch when you grew up growing up and something we did quite often I don't know as much um well maybe um well maybe maybe you can teach me when I'm back in Connecticut so we're going to have to wrap this up ladies but please I know I want someone to teach me by the end of 2020 and I know I'll see you before then so we're going to wrap this up thank you so much Tajma and Kayla Grace for coming on I miss you both and I can't wait to see you soon this is we look forward to seeing you thank you for having us you're welcome this is think tecawaii and movement matters and this just proves that life is better when you listen to your physical therapist mahalo