Headsets For Comfort – Part 1 – What is Happening to My Body With the Phone in My Neck

Imagine talking on the phone all day while having to reference information on your computer or write notes. Since this may require using both of your hands your neck becomes your third hand. All day long you place your phone in your neck and crunch your head toward your shoulders thinking how much it hurts. Ouch!

Your neck was not intended to cradle the phone extended periods of time. Plus just the thought of what you are doing creates a deeper stress that exacerbates the discomfort…You might be feeling something like ”This is very inconvenient for me right now.”

Placing the phone in your neck is an unnatural posture. This causes overstretching and pulling of the muscles in the opposite direction of their natural curve. This will cause sore and tense muscles.

Holding the phone in your hands for an extended time will cause tense muscles and tendons in the fingers, arms and elbows. If the neck is bent while pressing the phone to the ear the soreness will be felt here too.

The longer these postural behaviors are practiced, the increased chance of chronic pain and less range of motion. This means you will not have all the mobility you once had for the many activities you are involved with.

You might be wondering how holding the phone in an awkward position can have an effect on any other part of my life.

The body is designed to move throughout the day. When movement is restricted, fatigue develops and this spreads to the entire body and then there is a buildup of toxins and lactic acid in the inactive muscles.

The tense muscles also increase the chance of additional injury.

Let’s say you are driving and all of a sudden a car is moving into your lane. You must react quickly, so you move your neck quickly to the left or right to see what you can do. This is a quick movement made from a place of stress and a shock to the body.

Or what if you move the wrong way while sleeping and then stay in that position for a long period of time or if you quickly move your body awkwardly while playing sports?

In any of these instances, since your muscles are already tense you stand the chance of exacerbating the injury. Have you ever “pulled” a muscle and were not sure where it came from? A muscle that is tense is not able to go with the flow of the movement. In essence it is more “breakable”…the muscles will tense and “pull” causing additional pain or injury.

This muscle is in restriction and starved of nutrients due to this posture it has developed. The tense muscles do not allow the blood to feed it with water, oxygen and microscopic particles of food from digestion. Plus the toxins cannot be cleared away easily.

Chronic pain may develop due to the prolonged unnatural postures and the body’s connective tissue, the fascia to mold into place limiting mobility.

What can you do about all of this?

Tune in for Part 2 for some steps you can take to increase comfort, energy, time, productivity and the proverbial bottom line!

See you then,

Wendy