Upper Back Pain

The pain we feel sitting at the computer all day is actually trapped circulation. You can expect pain from bad posture or blood being trapped in your joints. Bad posture hurts the muscles in your back and can cause serious pain. Sitting properly can help to alleviate this pain. When blood is trapped in your joints it will cause serious pain, the brain sends out signals telling your body to spasm in the hope that the blood will be able to flow freely again.

So to fix this problem move around. Stand up and take a walk, shake out your legs and get the blood flowing again. You can, if you like, add heat or ice packs to the places that hurt or could see a massage therapist, both of these works quite well. If you are experiencing neck pain then a good exercise to do is to roll your head one way and then the next. Go slowly and hold your head in each position for 10 to 20 seconds. This will help open up your neck.

You can also experience pain in your arms; this is usually caused by awkward wrist and hand placement and constant clicking of the mouse. You can help prevent this by using a mouse that is the right size for your hand and by using a wrist rest; this will help take the stress off your wrist. Some people experience pain in their eyes if they stare at a computer for too long, this is because the human eye is not made to stare at the same point for hours on end. To help prevent eye strain, make sure your computer is slightly tilted to relieve any glare and make sure your computer screen is not to close to your face. You should never being falling into the computer. 

Why desk work causes neck and shoulder pain

Text neck syndrome, also known as tech neck or smartphone neck, is a relatively new term that describes neck pain and damage due to looking down at electronic devices for prolonged periods. Your head is quite heavy. And the further it is from being square over your shoulders. The more stress is put on to your upper back and shoulder muscle. The upper back becomes over stretched and weak. This actually gives the feeling of needing to stretch your neck all the time. And the pain eventually goes up the neck and to the back of the skull.

The chest muscles also become shortened. Giving people that rounded shoulder look. Along with the shoulders touching the ears sometimes. These muscles become over worked and under paid. Breathing even become very shallow. This leads to numbing feeling going down one of the arms and even jaw pain. People tend to tighten their faces during stressful situations with out even realizing it. Research is even coming out that sitting too much is becoming the new smoking. When you can make sure you are getting up and moving around. Big reason people are feeling this type of pain is from having a sedentary job. Do the best you can to fit it 5 minute walk breaks. 

How massage helps neck and shoulder pain

This type of pain is probably the number one reason why clients book a massage with me. So it is something I have many years of experience helping clients feel pain free. Massage helps by increasing blood flow to tired muscles. There can be a lot of work of getting better range of motion in the neck and shoulders. I have worked on lots of people who come into my office and can't turn their necks. 

I am also helping clients feel where their head and shoulders are so post to be. When people get into these types of patterns it is very easy to not notice what your head and shoulders are doing. Massage is always a great way to help give your nervous system a reboot. Calm nerves lead to pain free muscles.  

What areas actually need work

In this section I am going to go over what a typical sesssoin is going to look like for someone coming in for upper back and neck pain. Most of the time I start face down on the stomach. I start below the shoulders blades. I like to loosen up the mid section of the back to help all the other muscle to stack properly over each other. 

There are a couple trigger points that can develop near the spine close to the middle of the shoulder blade. Usually one side is worse than the other. I can tell visually. The worse side shoulder blade is rotated out and looks like it is going to slide down the arm. It is the lose of strength to hold that shoulder blade in place that causes so much upper back and neck pain. Once both sides of the mid to upper back have been slowly loosened up. In the colder months I like to end the back with some hot stones. I think it is a nice ending to some intense work. Helps to calm down the muscles. This can take up to 45 minutes. Then I have clients turn over on to their back.

Once face up I test range of motion in the neck. Plus I want to know if you are feeling and pinching, if you do where? While face up I am working on getting the muscles to reduce their spasms so I can help to get the head, neck and shoulders more evenly stacked on the spine. Depending on how much time I have. Head and face work gets added in. Most people can feel relief right away with a one hour session. 

Types of massage that help desk related tension

I will be giving a brief over view on the types of massages that can help with neck and shoulder pain from working on a  computer for many hours a day. 

The most popular service is deep tissue massage. This is detailed focused work. Having back neck and shoulders worked on will take an hour. You can learn more about the Benefits of Deep Tissue Massage in another blog post.

Cupping massage is another wonderful option. I have silicone and vacuum cups that I use stationary and I also glide them. To cup the whole back it takes about 45 minutes.

Myofascial release is also detailed focused work. Some key differences to the deep tissue massage. No oil or lotion is used. Women need to come in with a sports bra. And there can be different joint mobility motions I will be asking you to do while doing a stroke. 

All 3 of these will helps you see results it is just a matter of personal preference. And all my massages are customized to help each clients individual needs.  

How often should you get a massage for desk job pain?

If you having daily pain I like to tell people weekly massages. Depending on how long you have been dealing with the pain it may take about 6 weeks to get a handle on these types of muscle spasms. 

Once the pain becomes more manageable. Then we move to the bi-weekly schedule. We stay here till the pain is almost gone between sessions. 

Once the pain is gone then we are in the maintenance phase. This is every 4-6 weeks. I go into lots more detail on massage frequency HERE 

If we can't get your pain under control in that week 6 time frame it's time to call your primary care doctor. We want to make sure that there isn't something more going on beyond soft tissue inflammation. The doctor can give you a referral to physical therapy and possibly imaging.   

FAQ about massage for neck and shoulder pain

If you are in the West Boylston area and are struggling with neck and shoulder pain from working on the computer massage therapy can help. You can go online HERE to book your next appointment.