Why is neck pain so common?
What is neck pain?
Neck pain affects around 70% of people at some stage in their life. The prevalence of neck pain is increasing, and it’s impacting quality of life and the health-care system. So why is it becoming increasingly more common? Neck pain can be due to a mirage of different reasons. The term neck pain acts as a huge umbrella for a range of varying conditions. Acute conditions and occur from turning your head quickly. While more chronic conditions such as vertebral body degeneration or neck pain with a headache. All these conditions are labelled as neck pain. This could be one of the reasons that the statistics are so high, the bigger the umbrella, the more that can fit under it!
Why is it happening more?
As we have seen the world transition to becoming more and more digital, there has been a shift in the amount of people in office jobs. Computers, although they have been incredible for the advancement of technology, may not have helped so much with posture and workstation ergonomics. The stationary nature of office and computer jobs sees some workers sitting for periods of 4-8 hours a day. With the wrong posture, this results in placing increased load on the neck joints and musculature, which could result in pain and further neck movement issues.
Try these exercises
What can you do give your neck a ‘healthy’ break? If you have an office job, there’s no need for alarm! Here are some small yet effective changes that you can implement to your desk to decrease the strain on your neck.
1. Reduce your forward head posture: Having your computer below eye level can cause a forward head posture, putting increased stress on the neck. Get a stand for your computer that makes it eye level. This will ensure your neck is neutral.
2. Relax your shoulders: Move your mouse pad forward to make sure your shoulder is not elevated when using it.
3. Sit up tall: Place a small pillow behind your back ensure you are sitting tall in your chair with your back firmly against the backrest.
4. Take regular breaks and do active neck range of motion exercises: Hold each of these for 3 x 10 seconds.
– Chin to chest
– Look to sky
– Chin to right and left shoulder
If you need further advice and assistance with how to prevent or manage neck pain, call us on 073352 5116 or book online
