Ever wonder what the most common complaint that causes people to seek out a chiropractor in Shakopee, MN is? By far the most common guesses include auto injury, disc bulges and sciatica, or work 
injuries. It’s always a little shock when they find out that something as simple as computer posture is the number one reason people come to see me. Prolonged periods of sitting at work, school, or even just playing on the Ipad at home can lead to some pretty severe pain in the neck and upper back.
So what happens when you sit a lot in front of a computer? Prolonged bad posture typically has a few common issues that must be addressed in order to alleviate pain, and get to feeling better. Whenever you’re dealing with computer posture you have to look at a few different things that include forward head carriage, decreasing muscle tightness in pectorals and upper trapezius, and strengthening muscles to keep the head and shoulders in proper alignment.
First off, we have to address forward drawn head carriage. This is what can happen when you let your shoulders roll forward, and allow your neck to move forward as well. This causes straightening of your cervical curve, as well as leading to lack of motion in your neck, as well as pain. The best way to get motion into the joint, fix a subluxation, and work on the cervical curve is a chiropractic adjustment. The adjustment moves the bone into proper position, as well as putting normal motion back into a restricted “stuck” joint. It should be painless, and provide almost immediate relieve to the head and neck.
Secondly, we need to address tight muscles that have pulled your shoulders forward into bad posture. By using stretches to help lengthen your pectorals, and trapezius we allow your shoulders to sit in proper position not pulling your head and neck forward.
And lastly, to continue to be able to hold yourself in proper posture we need to strengthen the back to be able to hold our shoulders and neck in proper position when working at a computer.
Some common complaints that can be related to computer posture include:
- Headache
- Neck pain or neck ache
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Frozen shoulder
- Shoulder pain
- Arm numbness
- Tightness in trapezius area
A chiropractor may also make some recommendations for proper sitting positions, as well as giving you some daily stretching routines to help keep your neck and upper back more mobile while at work.
By going to your local Shakopee chiropractor for issues with computer posture, you will not only feel better, but help to fix the issue without having to rely on pain medications, and other drugs. If you have any questions about your neck and upper back give us a call at (952)456-6611 or click Brooks Chiropractic to take a look at our website for more information.