Tech Neck, Permanent Pain Relief in Diverse Modalities
My neck and back are connected, as are yours. Most people carry the “weight of the world” on their shoulders now “tech neck” is at the top of the body when it comes to how your body manifests emotional pain and while having an ailment in common is less than ideal it also means that there are more eyes on combatting it than ever.
If you are currently enduring a stiff neck from a bad night of sleep, less than ideal working conditions, or stress what you want are solutions. The ever essential hot shower, anti-inflammatory, and rest are always up first. Reducing inflammation and the pain it causes are key to implementing permanent solutions. (We all had to crawl before we walked.)
heating pads for the back of your neck:
You can use any type of heating pad you have on hand of course, in my many years as an athlete I’ve always been a fan of wet heat, epsom salt baths, and the occasional advil before I fell madly in love with topical arnica. If you don’t want to soak in the bath with epsom salts I’ve found relief with heat and magnesium gel or arnica montana gel. You know your body, be mindful of your preexisting medical conditions and what is best for you. Do something to get your head turning again, those mental wheels move much better once the tender loving care begins. If your pillow or mattress is old and lacking support make adjustments there as well, if you’re not resting, you’re not recovering from your day to day life. Rest is best when it comes to healing any ailment. The only piece of furniture I want you to leave alone is the chair at your desk, get out of that often and stretch with some wall angels, chest openers, or simply go get a drink of water. You’re beautiful and dehydrated, blue light(from technology) turns off the thirst mechanism in your brain. If you’re still itching to redecorate check out moveable height desks, I personally use a lap desk on top of my regular one to adjust the heights for when I wish to sit or stand and it has been working wonderfully for me for years.
The origin of neck pain is often on the anterior side of the body(the front) it is here where the weakness causes tightening of the muscles and pulls us even further out of alignment. The tight muscles are usually the weakest ones in a state of recoil at an attempt to protect themselves and vulnerable parts of the body. Strengthening your neck will help your posture and keep your chin up, buttercup we’re well on our way to feeling our best and standing our tallest. Time spent working at a desk can result in a tight pectoralis minor, scalenes, shortened abdominals, resulting in decreased flexibility in the short-term with range of motion, and mobility right behind.
Two parts of the chakra system are in play with neck muscle strain, the throat chakra(Viśuddha), which directly relates to how we silence ourselves or choose not to speak our truth for the reasons of keeping the peace or keeping our jobs. We could all use a good scream, even for personal reasons. If burying your feelings doesn’t sound like you, the reverse of having an overactive throat chakra is also possible in this social digital landscape where we all seek connection while many feel more lonely than every. Creating a life where you have space for balance fulfilling your responsibilities and self care is always the first step, asking yourself “why” questions when you’re pushing through tremendous burnout can provide you with steps towards healing and creating equilibrium within this chakra. Anytime there is pain there is will be than one part of the body affected, we are brilliantly designed to adapt. The next up on the healing will be your heart chakra(Anāhata). The heart chakra is often intertwined with the throat chakra as we rarely say what we mean, we must speak our truth or even allow ourselves to be silent. Our ability to love others and the lengths we will go for a person or job we love are expressions of our own struggle to love ourselves. Time and space to identify your ‘why’ when you’re feeling burnt out can aid in recalibrating your emotional body, addressing the cause in tandem with the pain, results in healing not band aids on wounds bound until the next hemorrhage.
If you’ve ever taken your car for an oil change you understand self maintenance. Taking care of yourself is basic hygiene and ignoring yourself can leave you feeling yucky to phrase it mildly. Words have power over your emotional body and in your workplace, changing a habit of being “self-deprecating” for a laugh can be a simple throat chakra fix that will revolutionize your psyche, Carl Jung acknowledged that your self conscious believes what you say and who are we to deny him? If you struggle to go cold turkey here why not be extravagant, refer to yourself as brilliant. You can break the habit it your can do this for a month, 21 days forms a habit go beyond that, treat yourself to some flamboyant language you beautiful creature. Traditional affirmations that correspond with your heart and throat chakras are similarly terrific in helping you discern exactly where you are out of alignment. Ask them as a question if you’re wary of the idea:
Throat Chakra Affirmations:
I can say no when necessary. (CAN I?)
I think before I speak. (Do I?)
I listen to my intuition. (Do I?)
Heart Chakra Affirmation:
I accept MYSELF and others as they are. (AM I? HOW CAN I?)
I am open to healthy and nurturing relationships. (AM I? WHY NOT?)
The better we know our emotion selves the better we can service our physical selves and maintain health. We are durable, adaptive, magnificent organisms, capable of anything. Capable of healing ourselves. Ask the questions.
Then we have how the neck can turn to participate in what we see, stiffness that comes in after countless hours spent facing forward with our eyes on the prize of work. Our physical rigidity directly relates or how supple we are mentally. On the most basic level your body is screaming in pain and it’s finally at the top your queue, you have to handle this problem before you tackle the next, not that tackling anything sounds desirable to you when you can barely think of turning your head. Western medicine has an emphasis on emergency, the pain you feel are signals to act and in acknowledging this you can become a more durable organism capable of anything. Integrating the “olde ways” and the western ones true balance in moderation.
Simple Steps in Summary:
Triage your symptoms and reduce pain and inflammation with heat, be sure to hydrate.
Discern origin of pain, connect with your why
Set timers for stretching, drinking water, and resting your peepers.
Recognize where you need balancing and bravely create it for yourself
Affirmations.
MS.
all inquiries: stronger@sherlockfit.com