Are you a working mum who is tired of feeling uncomfortable and experiencing neck and mid back pain while working at your desk? These could be caused by your slouching posture. There are lots of solutions out there from sitting up straight to strengthen the core to stop slouching at your desk. But how many times have you found yourself slouched again at the shoulders after correcting yourself for a few minutes? Core strengthening is a solution that definitely works but this is a long term solution to the problem and one that you should definitely implement. But lets discuss some simple yet practical tips to stop slouching your shoulder at your desk, that you can implement starting today, in this blog.
Firstly, check the posture of your Cervical spine or neck. A commonly seen poor posture at the neck is a forward head posture, where your head is placed forwards in relation to your body or torso. In order to balance this forward position of the head over the body, the shoulder need to be rounded. This is usually seen in those who strain their neck forwards to look at a screen for long hours. It creates a lot of stress around the neck muscles and nerves in the mid back and neck. It can also lead to irritation or compression of the nerves that exit the lower cervical spine, which can lead to nerve pain in the area between the shoulder blades or the arms and hands, cervicogenic (cervical) headaches and even contribute to poor sleep quality. Here is a video that explains this in more details:
To avoid rounded shoulder and Forward head posture make sure that your work area is ergonomically optimized. Position your top of your laptop or phone screen is about five to 10 degrees below eye level. This will help to maintain a neutral posture of the neck, thus preventing rounded shoulders and forward head posture (see picture below).
Secondly, avoid slouching at the mid back with this simple tip. Put a tennis ball or a massage ball on the thoracic spine at the level of the shoulder blades (anywhere from the top to mid of the shoulder blades), such that it sits between your spine and the chair. Whenever you slouch the ball will roll off your mid back, thus reminding you to keep your spine erect while sitting. This simple yet effective tip is very useful to prevent slouching at the mid back and thus prevent pain at the thoracic spine.
Mid back or thoracic pain is quite common in working mums, especially those who have sit for long hours slouched over their laptops or at home while taking care of their little ones. HERE is a free guide to help you to avoid mid-back pain while sitting.
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