Dealing With Back Pain At Work...

There are many signs that you're developing a posture problem. Back and shoulder blade pain is a common one. These areas of the body are under a lot of additional stress and pressure when your spine is not in a good position all day.

If your daily activities require you to sit in front of the computer all day, back and shoulder blade pain may be on their way if you don't take steps to prevent it. If you've already got these symptoms, the treatment is the same as the prevention.
As a frequent computer user, you've probably already been told to take breaks from sitting in that position at least once per hour. Doing this give the muscles a chance to relax and regroup. A good formula is to figure out how long you can work before you experience the first symptoms. Let's say that's 55 minutes. Subtract ten minutes from that time and you've got the longest amount of time you should spend in front of the computer before taking some sort of break.

What are you doing during that five minutes of rest? Are you still in a position that will continue to allow the muscles in the front of your body to grow short? Take the time to stretch them out. Or you can keep working, but maybe it's time to return a few phone calls or drop off those files to the guy down the hall. Just break up your activity and get some movement.

A quick and easy stretch that will actually keep the pain from coming back right away can be done right in your office. Find an open doorway and brace yourself against the frame. Push forward and feel your chest muscles and the front of your shoulders stretch. Hold it for just a few seconds. Now repeat that about five times.
Are you giving your back muscles a chance to improve in strength? A simple exercise to help with back and shoulder blade pain is slowly move your shoulder blades together. One way of describing this motion is to imagine that you are squeezing an orange between your shoulder blades. Hold that position for a few seconds and release.

It's not necessarily your work that's causing your problem, but it is likely that your daily activities are very repetitive and they are leading to your posture issue and your back and shoulder blade pain. Take some small steps and you'll be amazed at the difference.

Neck Pain After Sitting At Your Computer?

You sit down at your computer, ready to put in a full day's work and make some serious headway on your projects. You know you'll easily be spending 8 to 10 hours sitting in front of the computer.

You've set up your computer workstation as effectively as you can figure. Your keyboard is appropriately placed in front of you and your monitor is directly in front of you at eye level. So why will your neck start to hurt? Why will your effectiveness be destroyed by the nagging, aggravating neck pain that seems to show up more and more frequently?

If you are regularly spending a lot of time in front of a computer, you have to realize that your body is going to begin to change and adapt to take on this frequent activity. Your front neck muscles are slowly growing shorter and tighter, while the muscles in the back of your neck are growing longer and weaker.

The back muscles are also growing full of spasm and knots while they are forced to hold up your ten pound head for hours at a time. You would think they would grow stronger from having to hold your head up all the time, but it just never seems to work that way. As they get longer, they are growing weaker, and the job of holding up your head becomes increasingly difficult.

The best options are to do exercises and activities that will counteract the extended computer usage. The rule of thumb is to spend time stretching the front of your neck and strengthening the muscles in the back. This same rule applies to anyone looking to improve posture.

To stretch the front of the neck, turn your head slightly to one side, about forty-five degrees. If you turn your head to the right, you are stretching the left and vice versa. Place your right hand on left side of your chest and pull down gently as you tilt your head back. Stop immediately if you feel sharp pain or any dizziness.

To strengthen the back of the neck, the easiest route would be with a neck exercise machine. Some health clubs have them, but they are more of a specialized device. You can also fold up a towel and place it against a wall. Put the back of your head against the towel and push into it. Hold for a few seconds and release. This is an isometric contraction.

If you are unable to complete some of these movements, or you find that you can't painlessly move your head backwards, it may be time to visit a chiropractor. The chiropractor will perform a spinal adjustment and restore the normal movement of your spine.

Your neck shouldn't hurt just because your sitting in front of your computer. You've got to work and pain can be a nuisance, but it doesn't have to be there with a little effort.