Are you on the brink of quitting because your job has literally become a pain in your neck? As minor as it may seem, neck pain from sitting at a desk for long periods of time can cause more serious chronic pain and missed time from your work or home life. As a female, you already have a greater risk for neck pain because women hold stress in their necks and upper backs more than men.
But the good news is…you don’t have to quit your job. You can release that built-up tension and change the little habits associated with neck pain from sitting at a desk. Then you can enjoy more comfort as you perform better on and off the clock!
Understanding How Neck Pain From Sitting at a Desk Develops Over Time
First, let’s acknowledge that everyone who spends 95% of their day sitting down has nearly twice the risk of developing neck pain (National Center for Biotechnology Information link to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528269/).
Sitting increases your risk for neck pain.
Here’s how sitting and carrying stress in your shoulders can become a pain in your neck:
As your body becomes sore or stiff from sitting, the muscles around your spine and shoulder girdle tighten. As you keep working in the same position, these muscles become even more fatigued. Then your surrounding muscles contract to help compensate for that fatigue, creating the pain in your neck.
In one case, a woman had intermittent pain in her neck and her doctor noticed that her head leaned to one side. The woman had begun to favor that side due to computer fatigue, and this compromise in her posture resulted in recurring neck pain.
It’s important to realize that this pain and compromising of your muscles and posture can cause pain in other areas of your body. But it can also create kinks in your blood flow, which is imperative to your body’s ability to function, heal and protect.
Our Natural, Treatment for Neck Pain Will Help Restore Your Life
As with all the health issues we address here at Wheeler Acupuncture and Functional Medicine, we aim to restore your body so it’s functioning at an optimal level. For neck pain, we apply treatments using acupuncture and gua sha microcurrent coupled with infrared light.
Here’s how our neck pain treatment works.
Acupuncture increases blood flow to your neck and surrounding areas as needed, which will relieve stress and muscle pain.
Gua sha is a healing technique in which we gently apply a smooth-edged instrument with microcurrents to your impacted area. This stimulates the natural meridians in your face and neck (trigger point therapy) to allow proper energy/blood flow.
Infrared light provides anti-inflammatory effects, helping your cells regenerate and repair.
This 3-step treatment slows down the degeneration process in your neck, allowing your body to recover more rapidly while protecting your surrounding areas from consequential damage.
Just as or more importantly, by restoring the muscles in your neck, you can help prevent further health issues such as:
Headaches
Poor balance
Breathing difficulties
Headaches
Heartburn
Incontinence
Constipation
Did you realize that the nagging pain in your neck could stir up so much other trouble? Consider it a yellow flag telling you to slow down and take care of yourself!
5 Tips to Reduce Neck Pain From Sitting at a Desk While You Work
The following are a few tips that will help ease current neck pain and prevent future neck pain once your muscles have been restored through proper treatment.
Stretch your neck, shoulders, back and legs for 2-3 minutes every 60-90 minutes throughout your day.
Set your phone alarm and take frequent breaks to walk around the office or up/down the stairs.
Use a standing workstation (with proper ergonomics).
Sit with proper posture. (link to proper posture https://www.btod.com/blog/reasons-neck-pain-computer/ )
Drink half your body weight in ounces of good, clean water each day to keep your muscles properly hydrated.
Hopefully, now you can appreciate that the pain in your neck can be a much-needed warning, helping you prevent more severe health problems down the road. Our natural treatment plan will help alleviate your pain while restoring your neck and body. You can breathe easier knowing you don’t need to quit your job. And you can look forward to more productivity, activity and fun at work and at home! Your families will be excited to have you fully back!
Don’t put that neck pain from sitting at a desk off any longer. Schedule your first session here and be on your road to recovering soon!
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