Mobile phones have been wrongly been made the scapegoat in turning our teenagers into 21st-century hunchbacks. Before mobile phones reading books, doing knitting and various handicrafts would have also had teens and adults alike hunched forward like Neanderthals. In fact, mobile phones can now play a vital role in actually improving the posture and brains of teenagers…
This hope comes in the form of the common “selfie”. When you see how most people take a selfie, I realised how it is very similar to the actions required in an important neuromuscular postural re-training exercise I was taught by chiropractic neurologist, Dr Michael Hall. This exercise is important for activating the muscles, joints and nerves in our neck and back that hold us in a more upright posture while simultaneously relaxing the muscles that hunch us forward. So I coined the name “the selfie exercise” to encourage teens to do something that helps to combat the effects of slouching forward while on their precious phones.
The Selfie Exercise starts with you standing up holding your phone out in front of you at shoulder level. Keeping your eye on your phone, take your phone up and behind you and take a snap if you like!
Start by holding your phone in front of you at shoulder height
Keep your eyes on your phone, lift the phone up and back
Repeat this ten times using each arm. I recommend doing this each hour that you spend sitting.
For ideal results, of course, it is essential to get some regular chiropractic care to improve the mobility and alignment of the spine. That way the selfie exercise will help train your body to stay in an upright, balanced posture.
As an added bonus, this improved posture has been shown to stimulate the frontal lobe and parts of the brain that are associated with better behaviour, empathy and better capacity to cope with stress… and that may help the entire household!