How often do you take a break from work to walk around, drink water, or stretch? Sitting for hours makes the lower back support the body, which strains circulation and energy from the waist-down. Eventually it can drain internal organs. Staring into a screen also stiffens the neck and shoulders. Neck-related headache, called cervical headache, is most often felt in the back of the head and upper neck, where muscles extending along the skull are contiguous with neck muscles that may become tense or go into spasm. It is aggravated by neck movement and often accompanied by stiffness and tenderness of neck muscles. Characteristics of the pain:
- You hardly notice work-related pain until you stop working.
- Pains may be dull, aching, fixed (not moving), and persistent.
- Pain is worse with fatigue, stress, and emotional upset.
- There may also be chest tightness, wrist pain and numbness in the hands
Treatment: Muscle pain, stiffness and numbness from overwork often can be relieved with massage using a warming, soothing oil or ointment. For example Tiger Balm ointment comes in two forms. Red is warming and White Tiger Balm is cooling. White Flowers Chinese analgesic oil contains lavender, menthol and other stimulating scents that feel simultaneously warming and cooling. That switch from warm to cool to warm enhances circulation, which relieves pain.
Tiger Balm can be dotted at painful points at the hairline on the neck, the top of the shoulders, at the elbow and wrist in order to relieve stiff neck, shoulders, and arms resulting from hours spent at the computer.
It is important to stretch muscles to make them supple, and strengthen and build them to make them more resistant to sprains and injury.
Trigger Points for Head, Neck and Shoulder Pain
Trigger points are painful points and areas of referred pain resulting from poor blood circulation. Here is a website indicating the Trigger Point locations for the head, neck and shoulders according to muscle location: http://www.painclinic.org/musclepain-headneckshoulderarm.htm
Trigger Points are located at some distance from the referred pain. When applying pressure to them, use steady movement downward along the path of referred pain, not jerky harsh movement. Massage that applies pressure downward from neck to arms and hands helps relieve inflammation—a hot throbbing pain–in the head and neck. You can apply Tiger Balm or a sports rub ointment to areas of referred pain to enhance circulation.
Massage for Chronic Muscle Pain
A percussion massager such as one made by Homedics that has one or two massage heads, can be used to deeply increase circulation in the neck and shoulders. Massage at the back of the neck from the hairline down toward the top of each shoulder. Be careful to use a gentle setting at first and avoid the jugular vein located at each side of the neck.
Jugular Vein
A Tea for Chronic Computer-related Neck and Shoulder Pain
Deep, aching shoulder pain that results from overwork, fatigue and/or poor posture can be improved with a warm tea made by adding ¼ tsp turmeric powder and ¼ tsp cinnamon powder to a cup of hot water. Consume this without food between meals and you can feel the warming blood circulation soften your stiff shoulders and neck.
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