"I have a desk job so my neck always hurts."
"I get headaches and have a tight neck because I often sit for work."
"My posture is bad at work, so my neck hurts."
Does this sound like you? It's a common thing to hear from our corporate america/desk job workers in the office. The assumption is that simply because they are sitting at a desk, it will eventually result in pain. That's not always the case.
Many articles have shown that posture doesn't correlate with pain, however, prolonged periods of time without movement do. So, we use the finger analogy to help explain what this means. If you take your index finger and pull it backward, will it hurt? Well, if you're not extending it to its full capacity, no it wouldn't. BUT if you kept your finger extended backward for more than an hour, it would most likely hurt, right?
The same applies to your spine when you're sitting at a desk. It doesn't matter if you sit like a shrimp, military style, or have a fancy sitting to standing desk. It's all about having some form of movement throughout the day and avoiding prolonged durations of the same position.
If you think about it, being chiropractors, we are hunching over the table quite often throughout our day. The reason we're not in pain or constantly tight is because we combat that with all the other movements we do throughout the day working on patients and showing rehab.
Now, this doesn't mean you have to sit like you have ants in your pants, but your goal is to attempt to move your position every 20-30 minutes. Sit like a shrimp for 20 then sit up perfectly straight. Sit leaning to the right, then leaning to the left. It's really not rocket surgery.
The goals of these two drills are to mobilize the lower cervical spine and cervicothoracic junction. In regular people's terms, that means the area at the base of the neck where most people feel tight or stiff. This can be quite restricted in most people as the cervical spine moves too much and the thoracic spine starts to lock up. This is where a chiropractic adjustment is quite helpful and can really loosen that area up.
Following treatment, it's important to perform daily mobilization exercises to reinforce the newfound range of motion and strengthen the musculature. This is what helps in the long run and is what will TRULY get you better.
Keeping that area moving well and consistently changing your position at work can genuinely change your day-to-day comfort levels and ensure you don't continue to have neck pain and headaches that affect your work.
If you're experiencing nagging neck pain and headaches, it's time for schedule with the doctors who are going to do more than any other healthcare provider you've been to. It's time to experience the true difference at Strength & Spine Chiropractic. Schedule your FREE Discovery visit today at strengthchiro.com
