‘Office Worker’ Shoulders
Written by Dr. David Howard – B.Sc. (Clinical Sci.), M.H.Sc. (Osteopathy), B.App.Sc (Human Movement) from Pascoe Vale Osteopathy located in 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 large 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 and control the mouse are predominantly 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.
blown disk, slipped disc and pinched nerve.
Sciatica is a set of symptoms rather than a specific diagnosis. The symptoms are generally buttock pain and a sharp pain down the back of the thigh and sometimes into the calf. Occasionally, when severe, there may be numbness, muscular weakness and tingling in the leg.