Do you feel like you sit too much? Whether at work or in your own leisure time? Most people do!
Especially since COVID, many people found themselves living more sedentary lifestyles after work made a push to move more tasks online and then when we want to unwind most activities we do for pleasure involve either sitting in front of a TV, computer or even looking down at your phone.
What people don't release is the impact all of this sitting does for not only your physical posture but also the effects it has on your body, increasing tension in neck, upper back and lower back muscles!
These prolonged positions of muscle tension lead to increased joint stiffness and can end up manifesting itself as very annoying neck, shoulder, shoulder blade pain or even worst of all constant headaches.
Below, I am going to provide you with some great tips to not only reduce your risk of these annoying pains but also work towards settling them if you are currently dealing with it.
Posture:
Rounding of your shoulders and upper back and forward posture of your neck lengthens the muscles of your upper back and neck and leads to these muscles fatiguing more quickly as it is more difficult for muscles to activate in a lengthened position.
The first step in reducing these pains is addressing the cause, usually prolonged periods of sitting.
If at work or home if can be hard to break up sitting even when you know it is the right thing to do.
As a starting point try setting a time for every 1 hour of sitting so that you can stand up, have a drink of water and open up the chest by squeezing your shoulder blades together with a 5 second hold x5, then you can sit back down and continue as you were.
A very quick and easy morning and nightly routine of posture exercises with consistency can improve the endurance of these muscles to not fatigue and tighten to cause pain. These can be easily completed with the use of an exercise band:
Band rows (squeeze shoulder blades together) 20x
Straight arm pulls 20x
Straight arm band pull aparts below chest height (squeezing shoulder blades) 10x2
These exercises will take you no more than 2-5 minutes so no excuses!
These types of neck and upper back pains and headaches can be very debilitating, so for more individualised advice and treatment please see one of the very capable physiotherapists at Back in Motion Moonee Ponds who are always there to help you resolve any of these issues.