One of the most common forms of pain/discomfort in the WORLD is upper back/neck tension around the shoulders. Let’s talk about why this is and what we can do to fix and/or prevent it.
Our world is filled with technology that forces us into poor posture habits every day of our lives if we are not educated on how to use this technology correctly. We spend LITERALLY HOURS each day looking down whether we are on our phones texting our friends or sitting in the office on a computer all day slouched over. These everyday poor posture habits are often the biggest contributors to this tension so many of us have.
The problem is not that we simply look down. It’s that we do it over and over and over again, creating a habit. Once we create habits out of these poor postures, that is when the tension becomes CHRONIC, because we are now not only adding stress to our muscles, but to our body’s STRUCTURE as well.
OUR POOR POSTURAL HABITS LITERALLY CHANGE THE STRUCTURE OF OUR BODY
When looking at a person’s neck from the side, it should have a natural “C shaped” curve to it. This is healthy! The more we look down or slouch, the further forward our head falls which will eventually cause the natural healthy curve in our neck to become straight or even reversed. Our upper back/neck muscles then need to work harder and harder for every millimeter that our head falls forward. Therefore, so many of us turn to massage or working out to try to relieve our tension/stress. Does it help? YES, but only TEMPORARILY because what are our muscles attached to?… our STRUCTURE. This means, if you experience chronic upper back/neck tension, you can choose to get 3 massages per week or work out everyday but that WILL NOT fix the abnormal structure of your body.
SO WHAT CAN WE DO?
The first thing you should do if you are experiencing upper back/neck tension on a regular basis, is get x-rays taken. Why? Because you will then be able to see with your own eyes and know with 100% CERTAINTY what your STRUCTURE looks like. That is the best place to start!
