Do your “WhatsApp Stretches”!
Let me start by asking you a question: how many instant messages did you send out today over Whatsapp or Messenger? About 20?
And how many SMS text messages did you send? Maybe 15?
According to The Irish Times* these are the average amounts of messages that Irish people send out over their mobile phones each day. Some of these messages may only consist of an emoji, others could be very lengthy.
But sending all these messages causes stress on your hands, wrist, elbow and neck. The repetitive motion of using your keyboard on your mobile phone could cause forearm tendinitis, which is an inflammation of the tendon in your forearm. Symptoms of this condition include pain, tenderness, and swelling of your forearm.
In this blog I would like to give you two forearm stretches that help to strengthen your forearm muscles and relieve any tenderness or pain. While doing these stretches during a recent posture workshop, one of the participants called it the perfect stretch after using WhatsApp. All other participants could not agree more.
So sit down in a chair, rest your elbow on a flat table or surface and do your WhatsApp stretches!
Stretch 1: Stretch the extensor muscles of your forearm
• Straighten your arm out fully. Your wrist should extend beyond the edge of the table.
• While keeping your elbow straight, extend your wrist as far as you can. With you opposite hand, pull your wrist further into extension until you feel a stretch. Hold.
• You should feel a stretch across the top of your forearm and bent hand. Hold the stretch for 15 seconds and repeat it two to three times on each arm.
• You can also do this stretch while standing, or while doing a light jog on a treadmill or in place.
Stretch 2: Do a forearm flexor stretch.
These are the muscles that help you flex the wrist:
• Straighten the arm out fully with your palm facing up.
• Your wrist should extend beyond the edge of the table.
• Grasp your hand, straighten your elbow and flex your wrist as far as you can. Use your other hand to push your wrist further into flexion until you feel a stretch. Hold
• You can also do this stretch while standing, or while doing a light jog on a treadmill or in place.
If you would like to know more about reducing repetitive motion stress or if you are interested in posture improvement, then please check out our posture workshop on ergonomicsatwork.ie.