Do You Have The 'Text Neck' Bump on Your Skull?

Scientists have discovered that humans, especially young people, are developing spike-like growths at the bases of their skulls.

David Shahar, a health scientist at the University of The Sunshine Coast, Australia, told BBC Future,“I have been a clinician for 20 years, and only in the last decade, increasingly I have been discovering that my patients have this growth on the skull.”

Known as the "external occipital protuberance", this spike can be found just above the neck. If you have one, you can probably feel it. If you're bald, it may be visible from behind.

The spike was first discovered in 1885, but was considered to be extremely rare until recently.

Shahar decided to investigate and studied the x-rays of over 1,000 people aged 18-86. He found that the spike is most prevalent in people aged 18-30, and that as many as 1 in 4 people in that age group have the spike.

He attributes the "spike" in incidence of this growth to constant cell phone use. People are spending countless hours hunched over their phones putting additional pressure on their necks. That pressure may be causing the body to lay down fresh layers of bone in order to help keep the head balanced in that position.

So... do you have a bump?

Source:BBC Future.


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