(O2)
Are your thumbs tired from texting all day? Maybe they need a workout.
A U.K. network service provider called O2 has invented a new exercise product called “thumbells” – dumbbells for your thumbs, TIME reported. Weighing in at just 2.3 ounces, the thumbells include two miniature weights connected by a curved bar meant to sit on the middle of the thumb.
The product is part of O2’s new “Fit for 4G” campaign. The company is launching a new, faster 4G network this summer, which they say will allow subscribers to text at even faster rates.
However, O2 was concerned about their customers’ thumb strength. According to the company’s website, surveys have found that 43 percent of smartphone users have experienced thumb pain within the last five years, and 52 percent said their thumbs get tired when using their phones.
The “Fit for 4G” campaign is the result of a collaboration between O2 and BMI Healthcare, the U.K.’s largest independent private health care provider, according to TIME. Nicola Goldsmith, the clinical lead for hand therapy at BMI, has already developed various workouts that utilize the thumbell.
For those interested in testing out the tiny weights, O2 is giving them away to people who send a Vine – a six second video – of their thumbs working out to the company’s twitter account.
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