Office Workers Shoulders

Written by Dr. Alison Gault B. App. Sci. (clinical sci) B. Osteo. Sci.  from Vale Osteopathy Clinic located in Ascot Vale and Pascoe Vale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Sitting at a desk and tapping away on a computer all day is not what our bodies are designed to do.  A huge number of my patients suffer from ‘complaints of the arm, neck and/or shoulder’ also known as CANS. This is a musculoskeletal condition that is not caused by acute trauma or any systemic disease, just by poor sitting posture.  Interestingly, computer workers more often experience pain in the neck and shoulders than the hands and forearms.  This is unexpected as the muscles used to type are in the hands and forearm.

CANS causes pain across the shoulders and often up the side of the neck.  In more severe cases, the patient can experience headaches, numbness, tingling, pins and needles in the arms.

The office worker’s poor posture is most commonly slumped with the head positioned forward and the shoulders rolled in.  This anterior or forward position of the neck puts a huge amount of extra stress on the muscles of the shoulders and neck causing them to become tight and painful.

The nerves and blood vessels that supply the arm come out of the spine and pass through the neck muscles, under the clavicle or collar bone, under the pec muscles, through the arm pit and into the arm.  The muscles that are affected by the poor sitting posture are the ones that the bundle of nerves and blood vessels pass through.  The pressure of tight muscles onto the nerves causes tingling and numbness, the pressure onto blood vessels effects blood supply to the arm causing pins and needles or make the arm “go to sleep”.

The research into this common condition says that there are several other factors that influence the pain experienced by the patient. Things such as high stress, having little influence over one’s work situation and limited breaks increase the likelihood of experiencing pain and that it will be worse that someone without these other factors.

Interestingly, Women experience CANS more often and to a greater degree then their male co-workers in exactly the same conditions.  In a year, 51% of male computer workers experience CANS verses 72% of women.  The research suggests that the reasons are the difference between the male and female body, that women tend to work without a break for longer than men and finally due to the extra stress on women from running a house hold and child care.

What can you do about it?

There are several things that you can do to prevent and manage CANS.

Make sure that your desk is set up properly.  Your screen and keyboard should be directly in front of you.  You should position the items on your desk so that you are not reaching too far for anything such as your phone.

Make sure you are sitting properly.  Your butt should be right up against the back of the chair as you can’t slump in this position. Your arms should be hanging at your side with your elbows at 90 degrees.  The wrists should be strait.  Both feet should be on the floor.  This position may feel quite uncomfortable for a while as your body is stuck in the bad posture.  You may need to work up to sitting properly all day.

Get treatment!!!! If you can’t quit your job, you need to regularly “service” your body just like your car to decrease your symptoms or to prevent them from developing.  How often you need “servicing” depends on your body, you may need treatment every fortnight or once every 6 months, everyone is different.

Stretch….. Try to decrease the tension in those muscles, you should do these regularly.  I have a patient that has an alarm set on her computer that reminds her to stretch every hour but just twice a day will do!!

Torso Stretch

Seated or standing, lace the fingers together and stretch them up towards the ceiling.  Stretch up as high as you can and lean back slightly over the back of your chair.  Hold for 15 seconds.

Shoulder shrugs

Seated or standing, lift the shoulders up towards the ears, squeezing them as hard as you can. Hold for 1-2 seconds and roll them back as you relax down. Repeat for 8-10 reps.

Neck stretch

Sitting in your chair, reach down and grab the side of the chair with the right hand and gently pull while taking your left ear to the left shoulder, feeling a stretch down the right side of the neck and shoulder. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on the other side.  Then, starting in the same position, slightly rotate your neck so that your nose is pointing towards your right armpit.  Hold for 30 seconds and repeat on the other side.

Upper back stretch

Seated or standing, stretch the arms straight out and rotate the hands so that the palms face away from each other. Cross the arms so that the palms are pressed together, contract the abs and round the back, reaching away as you relax the head. Don’t collapse but instead imagine you’re curving up and over an imaginary ball. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds. If twisting the arms doesn’t feel good, simply lace the fingers together.

Disclaimer: The information provided is of a general nature and should not be used in place of professional advice from myself or another medical professional.

Vale Osteopathy Clinic provides osteopathic services to patients from a wide number of suburbs such as Ascot Vale, Pascoe Vale, Flemington, Melbourne, Australia, Footscray, Maribyrnong, Essendon, Essendon North, Moonee Ponds, Strathmore, Niddrie, Keilor, Coburg, Brunswick, Oak Park, Glenroy, North Melbourne, Avondale Heights, Airport West, Travancore.

Tags: headache, office worker, pain neck, shoulder, shoulder pain, treatment