Neck pain
Understanding chronic neck pain and how to solve neck pain at home
As a bodyworker, most people I treat complain of neck tension followed by headaches, jaw pain, or tingling/numbness/weakness down the arm. It wasn’t until I started working on car accident survivors that I realized where everything was stemming from; the brachial plexus.
(https://www.ahhot.com.au/blog/brachial-plexus-injury-demystified)
Located in the front of the shoulder, this is a superhighway of nerves, bones, tendons, and muscles squeezed into a small space and the space gets smaller when surrounding muscles are engaged. What are these activities that engage these muscles you might ask? Just literally most everything we do… driving, computer work, doing dishes, watching screens, looking down at a desk or tablet, etc. Electricians, painters, dental hygienists, pharmacists, software engineers, drivers, gardening, grocery store clerks, you starting to get it now?
Understanding the anatomy of chronic neck pain
Ok but what’s actually happening in anatomical terms? What muscles are constantly engaging? What frozen postures do we develop like drying clay left out in a high school art room?
It’s your rounded shoulders or back/neck hump. It’s the pectorals major and minor, your Sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and deep neck muscles: the scalenes. They all converge at your brachial plexus and they’re overstaying their welcome.
Don’t get me started on the domino effect that begins to take place on the structures down the line - to the arms below or neck and head above. But I will say one thing that relates to this… If you’re in a position for long periods of time where your elbow is bent and floating in midair (desk work), there are roughly 10 muscles constantly engaged trying to keep your shoulder stable. Rest your elbows. Attached at the bottom will be an innovative way people rest their elbows from any where.
So where do we go from here? We can’t stop every two hours to do jumping jacks. I mean, jumping jacks isn’t the WORST movement to get your body to do, but my neurodivergent brain is bored just thinking about it. I feel like our bodies crave to be more integrated and celebrated than that.
How can we stop ourselves from doing these repetitive forward movements that is causing us so much pain?
This is my big question and new passion of mine. I suppose a big answer would be: By creating a system in our society that works for our bodies. But I, too, live in a capitalist society that requires some sort of repetitive movement from me to keep the lights on. So maybe we make small changes by sticking to what we can control; our own routines, habits, and self awareness.
Where / when / how do we leave our bodies multiple times a day?
Do you remember being young and the world was your gym?
I remember rolling on the living room floor while watching TV, shifting my weight and swinging my hips while waiting in line. When did I stop? Why did I stop?
Simple ways to ease chronic neck tension
Posture correction: Reminders throughout the day to check in and reset your body
bar hangs after sleeping or long hours at the desk
working back muscles after sitting or looking down for extended amounts of time
take a walk and look around to warm up your neck muscles
implement random innovative movements (dance) as frequently as possible
(under a microscope, our fascia is in a fractal pattern and requires it. more on that later.)
