Pain Doctors commonly use the term Tech Neck. – This is a perfect description of the act of stressing our muscles when we are sitting at our desks using our computers or looking down at our keyboard, our mobiles, or documents on our desk. And whether we are doing this for hours on end at home, at work, or both, it means that we are keeping our neck still for long periods of time – and this frequently leads to terrible neck pain, a stiff neck, neck spasms, headaches, soreness, pain between the shoulders, creaky shoulder joints, and ultimately serious degeneration of the joints
Did You Know?
When you look down just 45 degrees, your neck muscles are doing the work of lifting an almost 50-pound bag of potatoes. That puts a lot of strain on your neck joints as well as your discs and contributes to them wearing out. In severe situations, you could get numbness, tingling, or weakness that goes down into your arms because of a pinched nerve in your neck [1]
Pain Specialists Advice Patients How to Prevent Tech Neck
When individuals suffering from constant and repetitive neck pain book an in-person or online consultation with a Pain Doctor, it is often discovered that the patients have thought that sitting up straight at their desks, is the correct way to do things. However, this is not correct, and is in fact, very damaging. This is because:
“When you sit with your back straight, you not only put a lot of force on the discs in your lower back; the muscles in the back of the neck have to contract to hold the head up. So, if you sit up straight for hours, you may end up with both back and neck pain” [1].
This scenario of concurrent neck and back pain is very common, so to that end, after reviewing the patient’s medical history and undertaking any necessary exams, tests and scans (including a discography), the Pain Specialist will focus on treating both the patient’s neck and back. This is done by providing them with a multi-faceted Holistic Personalised Treatment Plan which includes both conventional and cutting-edge treatments, therapies (including dedicated physiotherapy), and injectables (including nerve blocks, infraorbital nerve blocks, and facet joint injections).
So, How Should I Sit at My Desk?
The most optimal way to sit, is to have a reclining chair which will offer good lumbar support that will prevent you from slouching. You should set the chair to recline 25 to 30 degrees. When you are in this optimum sitting position, the discs in both your neck and back will be subjected to far lower forces (when compared to sitting in an upright position). – This is because the muscles in the back of your neck will no longer be forced to contract in order to keep your head up [1].
It is important to understand that when we lean backwards in a reclining chair, a percentage of our body’s weight goes into the chair as opposed to going straight down our spine. – As a consequence, our spine experiences a far lesser force. So the upside is a lot less pain! Of interest, the majority of people instinctively sit in this relaxed way in a reclining chair simply because:
- It feels better
- It doesn’t hurt their back or as much as it does when they sit up straight [1]
Well, we learn something new every day!
Reference
[1]. Health Matters (2018). “How to Prevent ‘Tech Neck.”
