Neck and shoulder pain are seen almost daily at The Reinge Clinic. Why oh Why do we get so much shoulder and neck pain? 🤔
I wrote a blog about back pain recently and how we have to keep our bodies aligned to stop us getting pain. Well this is the same for the shoulder, but even more so, as the shoulder is has so much movement available, it is easy to get out of alignment.
Those desks are again the biggest culprit. 👿 As we lean over the desk our shoulders begin to round. In order to keep our centre of balance in the right place, so we don’t fall over, our neck follows also extending forward over time. This position of a rounded shoulder and forward head leads to chronic tightness in the shoulders and neck area and you can get some nasty headaches as a result.
The shoulder girdle is hugely mobile and likes to sit in free alignment; the muscles of the shoulder, back and chest affect the position of your shoulder. If the muscles of your back are weak and the muscles of your chest are strong, you will struggle to maintain a good upper body posture and pain will inevitably occur.
So what can we do about it? Check out these top tips.
Firstly, we need to Stretch the front of our shoulders.... we need to help these muscles relax in some way, you can stretch them or get a massage, but they need to be loosened. Try this simple pec stretch using a door. this will help to open up your chest. Animals, especially cats, always stretch when they get up after a nap or long time lying.... maybe you should give it a go?
2. Next we need to strengthen the muscles between your shoulders, known as your rhomboids. They help to keep the shoulders in the right position. There are many strengthening exercises you can choose from, a quick Google search will show loads up. Here is one for you to try.
Bands are great for home exercise... Theraband is still the main band used, but others work just as well. Usually Yellow is the lightest band and then it works through the colours, red, green, blue, black...... getting steadily heavier (harder work) as you work up the colour. Yellow is a great place to start if you are weak. Start too heavy and you won't use the right muscles so it is best to start with the lightest and work your way up. As with all strength work do all the movements slowly so you activate lots of muscle fibres and don't rely on momentum to complete the movements.
If you work at a desk a lot, a monthly sports massage will really help to keep that posture correct and stop you getting pain. If the above exercises don't start to get rid of those headaches, give us a call and we will assess you and get to the root cause of the problem. Most headaches only take a few sessions to recfity so don't be shy, give us a call. 😀
The Reinge Clinic is a Physiotherapy, Sports Therapy, Sports Science clinic based in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. Take a look at our facebook page for our pain, injury and exercise advice posts and learn more about us on our website.
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