Pain In the Neck

Pain In the Neck

Could your job be causing your pain? “Of course it is!” is the common response I get from my patients, but it may not be the job as much as it is the way you do your job. Neck pain for the desk worker is one of the most common complaints I treat at my office. What many people dont realize is how they sit at their desk has a major influence on whether or not they develop neck pain.

The complaint can vary. Sometimes it is pain at the base of the neck radiating into the shoulder blades. Sometimes its pain right below the skull at the top of the neck causing a headache. Sometimes it feels like the neck has locked up and any movement is painful. The one common aspect of the complaint is that the patient usually states that “I never really did anything to hurt it, it just started getting worse and worse until I had to do something about it.” The truth is, it was the little things they were doing every day adding up to hurt it.

The way you position yourself while working has a dramatic effect on how you feel and what happens to your body. Sitting at a desk in a cubicle with a computer in front of you for hours on end can cause changes in your body (and Im not talking about waistlines).

Improper workstation setup is one of the leading causes of pain I see in this office. I see patients with chronically shortened muscles, loss of range of motion and even spinal degeneration as a result of poor workstation posture and setup.

The problem is the position of the head. A natural stress free position of the head is where the eyes are focusing on the screens workspace about two to six inches below eye level (directly in front of them), the head is level and the ears are positioned in line with the shoulders. There is no forward head positioning, no rotation, and definitely no cradling of a phone receiver between the shoulder and the ear. If the screen is too high it can cause upper neck pain and headaches and it is off to one side that can cause muscle imbalance.

Any of these problems in positioning over time will lead to permanent changes in the spine and pain. Improper positioning of your 10-15 pound melon can be like holding a bowling ball up for hours on end. Muscles will fatigue and your body will accommodate to deal with that stress. Correcting those postural problems by altering your workstation setup, and becoming aware of good posture will decrease your stress on a daily basis, and make work much less of a pain for you.