Think about your daily schedule. With the increasing use of computers, desk work, writing, eating, and time spent in traffic, it’s hard to avoid the aches and pains that can be associated with neck and back pain.
It can start as a nagging pain in your shoulder blade that won’t go away that can send referred pain down to your back. Or your neck can feel chronically tense from doing any of the above activities. This is because most of our daily activities are done in front of us while seated. Gravity takes over and the shoulders lean forward, our chest becomes constricted, the head juts out, and the upper back becomes stretched out or rounded.
The result is tight pectorals (chest muscles), shortened neck muscles, and weakened upper back muscles. These smaller muscles aren’t designed to be postural muscles but they have to kick in and keep our bodies upright. The solution is to fix the problem, not the symptoms.
If you can clear your schedule, running and/or cycling is a good hobby to take up to stretch these muscles. If you cannot clear these muscles, you need to focus on stretching all of these muscles, anyway. If you stretch the upper back but not the chest, you’ll still find yourself in the same faulty posture as before. Once you open up the chest and stretch the neck, you’ll be ready to stretch the upper back.
Yoga is key for neck and back pain because it helps relieve pain tolerance as it stretches out the neck, shoulders, and upper back. Take note of these ideas below that you can easily perform at or away from your work desk.
Postural Awareness and Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is the first step to relieving neck tension. To begin, using the diaphrapm, sit upright at the edge of your chair with your feet planted firmly on the floor. Keep your knees below your hips and complete a full breathe for ten repetitions. Feel your belly rising into your hands as you exhale and feel it fall. Notice any tension in the neck and relax those muscles.
Also, bring your awareness to the front of the chest and the collar bones. Broaden your collar bones so the front of your chest lifts up. Drop your shoulder blade towards your ears and lift the crown of your head towards the sky.
Pec Stretch
You’ll want to focus on your chest muscles now. Stand alongside a wall and lift your arm toward 12 o’clock, lowering it to 1, 2, and finally 3 o’clock at you go. Take a deep breath as you rest your other arm on your rib cage, pull the rib cage forward, but don’t move your outstretched arm. You should feel a stretch in your shoulder down to your arm. Hold for six deep breaths. Repeat on the other arm. But, if you feel tingling in the arm, discontinue at once.
Upper Back Stretch
This upper back stretch is going to seem like last week’s yoga pose when we discussed downward dog. But, this is more of a downward dog towards the wall. Stand facing a wall with your arms at waist height. Walk your feet back into a table top position with your feet directly underneath your hips. Lift the sitting bones towards the sky as you press the hands into the wall. Feel as if your heart is melting towards the floor. If you feel a great deal of stretching in the hamstrings, keep your knees slightly bent.
Hold for six breaths, focusing on opening the chest and lenghtening the spine.
Yoga can help build up your pain tolerance as you consistently work these poses into your regimen. You should be getting up every hour to stretch, even for a minute or two. Think of it as defeating gravity so you can stand tall, proud, and pain-free for life.
