Desk Exercises to ease Neck Pain.
I was chatting with my lovely web designer about IT technicalities and she encouraged me to start blogging more often. ‘ I think I have tried but I don’t know what to blog about, what do people need to know from an osteopath?’. “Well I want to know simple exercises on how to ease my neck pain, I’m on the computer all day then night, I’m sure some of your patients are too”. Valid point made. So I had a thought about what to write and researched on what others have written and hope I can bring you something useful and beneficial.
As with everything, when giving health advice over the internet, I can not control who will read this, and who will practice this, so please practice caution. Seek advice from your osteopath before attempting these. If you do attempt these you do so at your own risk. I would strongly recommend anyone with pins and needles in their arms and hands to seek advice from a professional such as your osteopath or GP before attempting these exercise.
There are many reasons for neck pain, I urge you to seek osteopathic evaluation and advice if you are experiencing stiffness and or pain in your neck.
I am a firm believer that posture plays an important role in healthy function. There are many reasons as to why posture can be compromised whilst working at your desk.
These include;
Your Habits – Do you cross your legs?
Do you hold a phone between your ear and shoulder?
Do you slouch when you sit?
Are you leaning to the side whilst using your mouse?
Your Height – office furniture is built for an ‘average’ height, so taller people and shorter people often adjust their posture to fit their desk set up.
Your Desk Set-up – If your desk, screen(s), keyboard, mouse are not set up properly it will compromise your sitting posture. Most companies have OT’s who can come over and adjust your work station to ensure you are sitting correctly. Maybe I’l write about this another day as it is a big subject in itself.
Prolonged Sitting – We are just not designed to sit for so long. There are many health implications as a result of sitting for long periods. Muscle fatigue and weakness included. Add in any of the variables from above and you have a cocktail of reasons for neck pain / stiffness. There is a campaign to get Britain standing, offices have started using standing desks, maybe your office will be open to the suggestion?
There is so much more to say about the subject, I am sure you can appreciate the complexity but we must progress to some exercises you can do! That is after all why you clicked to read this blog!
Firstly set a reminder on your software system or phone to remind you to stop and do these exercises. You may choose to do so every 40 minutes or every 2 hours, pick something that feels comfortable to you in this moment.
I am going to list a step by step plan which is gentle but beneficial. It is worth reading through first before you attempt the exercises. There is no race, there is no competition, please do not use force or strength, stronger does not necessarily yield better results.
Here it goes;
Breathe – stop what you are doing. Sit really tall with your spine straight and long, looking straight ahead, slowly fill your lungs with air deeply using your diaphragm then slowly exhale, every last bit of air. Do this about three – five times. (roughly 30 – 40 seconds)
Shoulders – maintaining your tall posture, gently rotate both shoulders backwards in small circles. You do not need to force it, you do not need to bring your shoulders to your ears, just gentle rhythmical rotational movements with gentle breathing, about 5 rotations. (roughly 10 secs)
Neck – maintain posture and breathing, turn slowly to look right, move slowly back to looking straight in front of you, then continue to turn to look to the left. GENTLY, there is no need to force your neck to look over your shoulder, forceful movements do not help!. Repeat this so you do each side 3-5 times. You may hear light gristly sounds in your neck, do not panic, its fairly common in necks holding tension! (roughly 30-50 secs)
Neck – maintain posture and breathing. Bring your head down so you are aiming your nose towards your armpit. Lets start with the right, bring your nose down like you want to sniff your armpit! (teehee!) You should feel a stretch going down the back of your neck on the LEFT. Forcing your head towards your armpit to maximise stretch can be very damaging in certain situations, so please be gentle. Come up to neutral, so you are looking straight ahead. Make sure you are still sitting straight and tall. Now repeat by bringing your nose towards your left armpit to feel the stretch on the right side of your neck. Hold the stretch for two breaths. Repeat each side twice. (roughly 40 secs).
Shoulders – Rotate shoulder backwards to relax your muscles as per number 2. You May Have To Carry On Working Now BUT I’m going to add a few more tips should you wish to do these later, or continue after this step.
Upper Back – The bit between your shoulder blades. If this is stiff, your neck will be stiff so its worth giving some attention too. Keep maintaining your posture! Press your hands together in front of you in prayer position, roughly at chest level. With your breath turn your upper body including your head one way i.e. Right whilst keeping your hands in front of your chest. Your hands move the same distance as your head and body so when your body stops moving, so do your hands. Do not continue to move your hands around into further rotation there will be minimal benefit and an uncomfortable pull in your neck. Move slowly at the speed of your breath. There is no feeling of stretch, it is all about gentle oscillatory movement. Rotate towards the right, then return to midline and continue through to the left. Repeat this 5 times for each side. (Roughly 30 secs)
Arms – Come back to midline, maintain tall posture with your hands together as per step 6 and gentle comfortable breathing. Take a deep breath in, move your hands up towards the ceiling with your inbreathe following the movement so you are gently looking up. On the out breath release your hands, palms facing down arms stretched out and bring them back down towards the sides of your body. Bring your head down so you are looking straight ahead. Repeat 5 times. (roughly 40 secs)
Shoulders – Finish off by rotating your shoulders backwards 5 times then get back to work! or finish your lunch!
I hope it helps. It is wordy but I shall attach a video link so you have a visual. It is easy and gentle and after you have done it a few times it is rememberable. I would discourage you from skipping the first 2 steps. Avoid going straight into neck stretches. These muscles are in awkward angles and very easy to aggravate. Do the breathing warm up first. You do not have to do all 8 steps, it is pretty long but worth doing the first 5. If it hurts, STOP. If you feel dizzy, STOP. If you feel sensations shooting into your arms STOP! Seek advice. Please appreciate, as I said before I can not control who reads this, and if someone with a potential discal issue is attempting this without seeking any medical or osteopathic advice, you could hurt yourself. Most people who do not have a pathology going on but are feeling the fatigue of long hours at the desk will feel benefits.
Good luck and have fun!
Pindy 🙂
www.loveyourback.co.uk
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