For once, we’re not talking about the mind fu**ery that a poorly-timed session of Instagram scrolling can read to… nope, this is about the literal pain that technology can cause… and how to avoid it getting worse...

I don’t really know when I started popping Ibuprofen a couple of times a day. But I certainly noticed the discomfort when I ran out a few months ago. The tightness in my shoulders and dull-throbbing headache were impossible to ignore.  And I do lots of things to help already: I (try) to do a few sessions of yoga each wee (Yoga with Adrienne is my fave) and I do take breaks from sitting. Still, it’s not nearly enough. It’s like trying to catch the ocean in a sieve.

There’s no doubt that technology is warping our bodies. For as many apps and programs that boost our sense of wellbeing, the downtime we spend on our phone can just as quickly undo the good work. On a bus recently, I noticed every single person’s head hanging down over their phones, mine included. When our heads (which weigh 5-10 kilos) slump, this compresses and tightens the muscles and tendons and ligaments behind the neck. And for every inch our head hangs forward, our neck carries double the weight. And before you know it, you’re popping over-the-counter painkillers like candy. 

I recently heard Dr Cody Hanish, a chiropractor perhaps best known for his oddly satisfying “crack videos” on Tik Tok and Instagram (@drcody_dc), talk about the craning of our necks, which the increase in hybrid working hasn’t helped. It not only contributes to a cumulative tension in our backs and shoulders… it also creates sagging and lines in our necks (nooooooooooo!). 

Dr Cody shared a fantastic stretch you can do anywhere, and it’s one I haven’t come across before: Press the fingers of both hands on your right collar bone, holding the skin in place. And then gently pull back and away to the left, creating an incredibly satisfying stretch that goes up the side of the neck and to the back of the head. Hold for five, and then repeat on the other side. Experiment gently with the angle to find the most satisfying release. 

Another technique I use all the time now, comes from The Feldenkrais Method, which is a type of exercise therapy devised during the mid-20th century that claims to reorganise the connections between our brain and body. A practitioner friend did a session with me years ago that I have never forgotten (so I guess it worked). Breathing deep and in a seated position, she had me imagine my body stacked neatly in a straight line, from my sitting bones to the top of my head. When you do this, gently hold your core, and make micro adjustments so that line is perfectly straight. Return to this position as often as you can to avoid the dreaded slump that I see my teenage daughter in all the time… and myself too.  

One of the easiest and most obvious fixes, of course, is to put the damn phone down. Sigh. This is ultimately what helped me correct the tension my posture had created. Longer breaks. Less going to bed to read/watch on my phone. More paper books and actual big television viewing. It’s simple, but that doesn’t make it easy.