Smell your armpit to save your neck

Is your phone a pain in the neck? These days we're all increasingly dependent on our mobiles. (One of my clients is so glued to hers that to make sure she gets a proper workout I have to confiscate it.)

What concerns me is what it's doing to our postures.

On my run the other morning pretty much everyone I passed was on their phone. Whether they were texting, tweeting or holding it to their ear with their hand or shoulder, it was a Pilates teacher's nightmare.

There were heads bent over towards shoulders and the classic eyes down, shoulders forward craning of the neck looking down at the screen.

It was hard to resist the temptation to go around to everyone and bring their shoulders back and down, raise their head up into neutral and straighten their backs.

With the amount of time we spend using our phones this repetitive incorrect positioning of the head and neck creates an imbalance within
the neck muscles that can cause chronic injury.

If you constantly tilt your head to the same shoulder it creates a shortening on one side and an over-lengthening on the other. This could result in headaches or migraines.

So if you're at your desk and intending to be on the phone for extended periods of time, get yourself a headset. Alternatively, swap sides with every call you make.

These two short stretches will also help. Try to do them every hour so.

First, smell your armpit. Hold the position for 15 seconds, then repeat on the opposite side.

Second, listen to your armpit. Hold the position of the head for 15 seconds and repeat on opposite side. To make sure you avoid looking like you have a problem with either your personal hygiene or your sanity, you may want to find somewhere private to do them.

David Higgins is the co-founder of tenpilates.com