Working From Home is a Pain In The Neck
Over the past six to nine months many of our patients are reporting that working from home is a pain in the neck, literally. Between the increased hours sitting in one place without getting up and moving and the poor ergonomics of ones home workstation, working from home has literally been causing the incidence of neck pain to increase. Couple that with the stress of Covid-19 lockdowns, gyms being closed, and the financial stress of navigating through this pandemic, we have a perfect storm of factors that is leading us down a painful path in which chronic neck and back pain are becoming an epidemic in their own rights.
In this blog I would like to address the two biggest culprits of chronic neck pain and offer some easy solutions that can be done to significantly reduce the stress and tension on your neck and back.
– Address your ergonomics
- If you are working on a laptop ditch your laptops keyboard and mouse, get yourself a full size wireless keyboard and mouse for $30. Then, put your laptop up on one of those Amazon boxes that you have laying around your house so that the screen is at eye level. This cheap and simple life hack will do more for your neck and shoulder pain than any other quick change you can do.
- When you are working on a laptop keyboard and monitor, your shoulders are rounded forward and your head is looking down and out in front of your body, and you do this all day. This posture will over time create chronic tightness in your chest muscles and chronic over stretching your upper back muscles. This over stretching of the upper back muscles eventually causes trigger points (Hyperirritable sports in skeletal muscles) and this is why they start to hurt.
– Get Up and Move
- Move around as much as you can. If you have a sit stand desk then this will be much easier. I recommend that if you have a sit stand desk that you sit for 30 min, then stand for 30 min and alternate throughout the day. And even better if you can walk around your house for at least 5 min every hour.
- If you do not have access to a sit stand desk then it is important to stand up ever 15 min. I know that it may be unreasonable to walk around if you are tethered to a call or on a video conference but all you really need to do is stand up and sit back down every 15 min. This will unlock your muscles and prevent your joints from getting rigid and stiff. I do however still recommend that you walk around your house for 5 min every hour.
- Make the goal that every hour you do one chore, take out the trash, put a load of laundry in, go outside and pull 5 weeks, do 20 squats, it can be anything but the key is to do it every hour.
If working from home is a pain in the neck for you then try these two simple life hacks and see if it makes a difference. As they say, the proof is in the pudding. If it does not work for you then don’t do it. But my guess is that it can only help!
Maybe you have degenerative arthritis or a pinched nerve
If working from home still is a pain in your neck, and you have tried these two recommendations then you may also have a medical condition that needs to be addressed. The most common thing we see in our office from people who work on the computer all day is chronic pain and numbness that travels down their arm or leg.
Long term periods of looking down at a computer or sitting in a chair can lead to chronic inflammation and degenerative joint disease (AKA Degenerative Arthritis). This condition results in a decreased space between ones spinal bones leading to pinched nerves. This is called a radiculopathy and will cause numbness, burning, or weakness down one or both extremities. Chronic sitting and poor posture will lead to joint restrictions and lack on movement in the spine. It is this lack of movement that results in increased stress on the spinal joints and soft tissue inflammation.
As a Chiropractor we see this condition everyday and are able to quickly assess where there is a lack of motion in the spine. We do this primarily do this through evaluating ones spinal motion through physical touch also known as palpation. In addition to physical exams we use digital x-rays to help us identify the current health of each joint and see if the bones are showing any negative signs of stress. If you look at a construction workers hands, it is easy to see where the stress is on their skin by looking for a callus.
X-rays are no different, if you see a joint that has extra bone (called a bone spur) on it or a thinning disc then we know that that joint is under stress. The Chiropractic solution to this lack of motion is simple, get the joint moving again and and let the body heal. This is what we call a Chiropractic Adjustment.
Try Chiropractic
If you would like to get your spine evaluated for signs of stress and postural distortion we are a full service chiropractic office located in the East Valley in South Tempe. We have two experienced doctors and a modern digital x-ray system to help us see exactly what is going on with your spine. Just mention this blog post and we will perform a wellness evaluation, complete set off x-rays and give you your first adjustment if necessary all for only $68.
Contact us by phone or online to schedule your wellness evaluation.
Reed Chiropractic
250 W. Baseline Rd. #107
Tempe, AZ 85283
***New patient Wellness discount does not apply to any work injury, auto injury, or federal insurance programs including Medicare, Medicade, or TriCare.
