Booklift for Books and Screens

A simple and highly effective way of keeping one's neck healthy and preventing issues that can stem from tight neck muscles like tension headaches is to use a stand to prop up books and tablets.

I have long used the following stand for textbooks and stand-alone screens like iPads and phones:

https://amzn.to/4glotKX

Link for Canadian residents:

https://amzn.to/3OvgnDf

I like how light this stand is, making it convenient for students who need to carry it in a backpack to and from school.

In seeing that our Mom was using a metal stand to prop up her iPad, I bought her one of these stands to replace it, and she loves how light and strong it is. Her former metal stand would sometimes collapse on her fingers, which could be quite painful.

Our aunt who is visiting from British Columbia saw this stand and started crowing about it, so I took the hint and ordered her one as well. She says it's perfect for her heavy Bible.

When I was in university 30 years ago, I didn't use such a stand while studying many hours at a time, and eventually developed a shoulder issue which I since learned was partly due to poor neck and spinal posture. When we keep our head flexed downward to read for long stretches, the spaces within our intervertebral joints and between our shoulder blades and collar bones are reduced, which can cause encroachment of nerves and blood vessels that supply the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hands, a condition called thoracic outlet syndrome.

If you have students, seniors, or office workers in your life, this type of stand makes for an excellent gift idea.

Also helpful for neck health is the following tool that I've shared in previous messages:

https://amzn.to/3CK6m2I

For Canadians:

https://drbenkim.com

For those who are new to our readership, here is a short video that I made earlier this year showing how to use this took to improve neck strength and mobility:

https://youtu.be/wjOITfdKspc?si=Guz_hXQQ0UPpEvgT

It's such a simple routine that can be done in just a minute or two daily to prevent all sorts of neck and upper extremity issues, a must for all of us at any age.

Those who have a broomstick or any other long dowel at home can mimic some of this neck mobilty work, as shown here:

https://drbenkim.com/stick-neck-pain-stiffness.htm