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.
No comments:
Post a Comment