Tech Neck - ouch!

During this time of lockdowns and restrictions you might be working from home. While this has its joys (no traffic to worry about, close to the kitchen 😜, flexible working hours) there have been trials as well (sharing your ‘office space’ with others in the family, juggling with sharing internet bandwidth, being close to the kitchen…) and you might have found yourself with what’s become a familiar head, neck, shoulder and maybe even lower back pain. Its commonly known as ‘tech neck’.

I don’t think there is a doubt that we are all spending an increasing amount of time on devices of all kinds; computers, tablets, phones et al. We can become very absorbed in what we are doing and settle into unhelpful physical postures for long periods of time. It’s not until we ‘come to’ that we realise that our neck and shoulders are stiff and sore.

Perhaps you retire ‘hurt’ to some paracetamol or a glass of wine at the end of the day? (Not that a glass of wine is bad, you understand!). Are there other ways that we can head ‘tech neck’ off at the pass and possibly set us up to enjoy that glass of wine without the pain that tech neck brings?

When we are spending time on our devices we need to focus our eyes quite strongly and narrow our gaze (same goes with reading or anything that requires close observation). As a result we get a bit of a ‘hard stare’. Our eyes work in conjunction with the muscles through the back of the neck that attach to the occipital area at the base of the skull (and as well with our vestibular system which tells us where we ‘are’ in space) so a hard stare will lock the neck muscles as our eyes remain fixed on a screen.

Additionally, the way we set ourselves up to sit to work (and at home there may be a few more options than at work) can have a major effect on our neck and shoulders. If our head juts habitually forward it can lead to extra strain - that 4 - 6 kilos of ‘head’ that we carry around becomes much ‘heavier’ once we reduce the supporting capability of the body by taking the head out of alignment with the torso.

It’s important, therefore, to ensure that we set our body up in a manner that allows us maximum support with maximum freedom of movement. This is a dynamic process that continually changes throughout the day in response to our needs. Learning how to balance support, freedom and the ability to dynamically adjust our bodies can really help us to weather the tensions that a day at the desk can produce.

Want to learn strategies for releasing neck and shoulder tension? Click on the button to find out more about our upcoming workshop.