If you work in an office or a position that requires you to sit down at a desk on a computer or reading a lot of papers (not so common anymore), you may have experienced neck pain. Well, it is expected if you know the following facts:
- The head is bigger from the neck forward: if you touch your neck where it meets your head; you will realize that the distance to the tip of your nose is longer than the distance to the back of your head. Then add the weight of your brain, teeth, eyes, tongue, etc vs the mall portion of your head in the back of your skull. Then, add gravity to the mix, and your head will tend to be dragged forward and down putting extra strain on the back neck muscles to hold your head up.
- Most of the things we do are in front of us: taking into account what is stated above, we have no motivation to do things that would counteract the effects of gravity and our anatomy. All of our daily activities are done in front of us and below our eyes to be able to control it and not have to lift our arms to conserve energy. This will further drag our head forward and down. For prolonged periods of time until we finish our tasks.
- If we are focused on finishing a task, the last thing we focus on is keeping our posture properly: even if we know the effects of poor posture, our tasks may outweigh the benefits of a good posture, so we think.
- Most businesses try to save money in any manner possible. Hence, your work station ergonomics may not be ideal: a good ergonomic work station can encourage you or facilitate the adoption of a good posture during work time and help us avoid a bunch of neck issues.
Now, I have put a group of exercises that will help you fight the effects of poor posture and avoid neck pain.