Shoulder Posture and Neck Pain

Can your shoulder posture be a cause of neck pain? This edition of “ask the Chiropractor” we take a deeper dive into this topic. Often the way we sit or work can create issues with our posture. The issues with our posture then creates extra stress. This extra stress leads to extra pain. Let’s break this down.

Posture

When you sit you get forward head posture. While sitting first your shoulders will roll forward. Secondly your head will extend forward or outwards. Lastly you will hunch your middle back. I know people try to set up their desk but sitting is sitting. Also this holds true if you work on a counter space in front of you. Because you will be reaching out to work and the same posture occurs.

Stress

When your posture is off you use your muscle wrong. Because using your muscles wrong can cause them to become inflamed. Inflamed muscles then become sticky muscles. As a result sticky muscles then form knots. Finally knotty muscles create more inflammation and the whole thing just compounds itself.

Pain

This knotted tissues just become inflammation machines creating havoc. This is why the patterned must be interrupted. First by a chiropractic adjustment. The chiropractic must first remove any fixations created by the stress. Once the spine is loosen up, we proceed to the next step, soft tissue work. We must remove the knots. Massage therapy is the best, followed by one of those massage guns, lastly maybe just a tennis ball against the wall. After this is done, stretching it regularly is the best way to prevent it from returning. Here is a link to a video where Dr Berven teaches those stretches.

Questions

If you have any questions let us know. Every Monday we have our ask the Chiropractor. You can also look for our podcast.