Neck / Shoulder /upper back problems

[Andrew1]

Hello all,

 

I was just wondering if anyone here experiences neck / back problems while working on the computers, I do work about 10 hours a day , some times 6 days a week and I started to suffer from neck and shoulder pains..., I am 38 years old , I think I can blame it on my posture while sitting in front of a computer....,

Im just wondering if there is lots of us suffering in similar way , if so what are your thoughts / resolutions and how do you deal with it.

 

thanks,

 

Andrew

[pauljcox]

Hi Andrew. I find that I am almost constantly plagued with a sore neck/shoulders. It would probably serve me well to buy a decent chair, rather than just the one with the best looking price tag. I hear that can make a huge difference.

[BrianKitts]

Yes I know the feeling. We actually have a few of our administrative assistants who are trained for correcting ergonomic seating conditions. They corrected a handful of things in the way I sit and I can say I have definately noticed a change. I'm no expert but I can share a few tips, perhaps others may know some as well.

 

The biggest and easiest things to remember are sit up straight and focus on keeping 90 degree angles. Your arms should hang straight down and extend out at 90 degrees, your legs should touch the floor and be at exactly 90 degrees. It's a balancing act of how you achieve this.

 

If you're short raise your chair so your arms meet your keyboard at the right height and then get a foot rest to fix your knees at 90. Most people will find that their desk is at an innapropriate height and you will need to install a adjustable keyboard tray under your desk to drop your keyboard/mouse height.

 

Do not use the arm rests on your chair when working. Drop them so that they are not in contact with your elbows, otherwise they push your shoulders up creating a lot of tension up there including in your neck. Keep them an inch below where your arms work height is so when you aren't "working" you can use the arm rests, but you should be dropping to them, not lifting to use them.

 

Your monitor should be directly infront of you or slightly above horizontal eye level. Looking down causes neck strain. If your monitor's stand isnt' high enough, stick a few books under it..... they actually make commerical monitor lift stands, but you can always find better options, work in an architectural office? steal some of those large glass samples!

 

Get a mouse that fits your hand. If you've got big mitts..... get a big mouse. Crimping your hand on a tiny typical dell stock mouse causes far more tension in your wrist than you realize. I like the logitech MX series, they used to be bigger the new one got a bit smaller but it's far better than a tiny standard mouse. Tryout mouse alternatives such as a wacom tablet or trackball..... that one's down to personal taste.

 

Those were the big key factors for me, force yourself into a new position and soon enough it will be comfortable to you and you'll feel your pain ease up a bit. A side comment as to something that also effected me was to get a new mattress at home. That also contributed to a bit of my back pain that I thought was more from my work posture. Most matress retailers are pretty good about getting you into the right firmness based on how you sleep..... it's amazing what having the right bed will do for you.

 

 

[/novel]

Edited April 26, 2011 by BrianKitts

[carlangas]

if I could chime in I would suggest getting some exercise on top of what has already been mentioned. I pretty much work the same hours as you do and I find working out or doing some cardio will really help in more than one way. my two pesos =)

[John Dollus]

not sure if its a coincidence or not but there's a recent thread on cgtalk talking about the same thing with vfx artists getting surgery in mid-30's for neck/back issues. Personally, I have found that exercise works wonders along with a good chair. Brian's advice is great but i can't work at 90 degree angles all day long so I go running instead and get off the train a couple stops before the office. there was about a month when i switched between an aeron chair and a common wood desk chair and it made me realize how much of a difference that alone can make. Oh, and getting divorced solved the neck pain

[eagle_ear]

Beer!

[pauljcox]

Beer!

 

Hoo-rah!

[Jeff Mottle]

By back pain has gotten a lot worse in the last 5 years, just turned 36. I work 10-15 hours a day. One morning last year I put my arms up to stretch in my office chair and all of a sudden a nerve in my back went nuts and I could not turn my head left or right without a lot of pain. Took a week of physio to correct it. Generally when that happens now I have to break out the prescription muscle relaxants and wait a few days. On Sunday my back felt like someone was taking a sledgehammer to it over and over again. Hard to describe the pain. Almost completely opposite to the hot knives that I sometimes get.

[Scott Erstad]

I would highly (read: DO THIS) yoga. Not the kind where you are slowly moving, but the kind they call Hot yoga. You sweat, bend, twist and squat. Bikram, vinyasa, et al. It works best at about 95-105 F degrees. This is a great workout and can be done in these northern climates all year round. Along with Brian's kinetic recomendations, do some hot yoga 2,3 or 4 times a week and not only will your aches and pains go away, but you will be pretty damn fit. AND beer tastes great after.

 

Try it - for two weeks at least- and let us know how you feel.

 

Cheers,

Scott

Edited April 27, 2011 by scotty
clarity

[Matt McDonald]

There are also lots of "desk exercises" or stretches designed to help. I have to confess I've been bothered by back and neck pains at my desk and gone so far as to look up or save instructions but I haven't tried them.

 

The monitor height thing is a big pain in the er... neck as I'm tall and its tough to get a couple of monitors up to the proper height.

[Scott Erstad]

There are also lots of "desk exercises" or stretches designed to help. I have to confess I've been bothered by back and neck pains at my desk and gone so far as to look up or save instructions but I haven't tried them.

 

The monitor height thing is a big pain in the er... neck as I'm tall and its tough to get a couple of monitors up to the proper height.

 

I'm tall too. And I agree, tried lots of stuff but the only ting that ever made a real tangible difference was the yoga, truth brotha. Try it, but you gotta stick it out for a bit to get the impact.

[illegalalieninbeijing]

Nothing a good chiropractor couldn't fix. Of course, routine exercises and good posture helps a lot.

[Andrew1]

thanks guys,

 

good to know I'm not alone here

I tried chiropractor here and there and it seems to help for a couple of months,

but each time I use chiropractor when the pain comes back it seems more intense as

if chiro was a quick solution to just numb the pains and in the process it reinjures the area even more lol, currently for the firts time started taking pain killers,.. it does help,

in the mean time I monitor my posture and every 15 min I do correct it and try to keep it up lol it did help a bit, I am thinking about getting a shoulder brace it suppose to pull your shoulder blades closer and relieve the muscles involved in supporting your shoulder blades and neck.

In regards to physical activities I run and I am an ex-martial artist with strong background in Tai-Chi so I do exercise and stretch quite frequently,

oppose to being a couch patato.

 

I think its time for an MRI as I had this problem for the past 4 years and it made it hard to focuss on work and creativity and it really pisses me off....

 

thanks guys,

 

PS Jeff it seems like I get the same shoulder/upper back pain as you...

 

back to work I go.....

[Stan Zaslavsky]

one of the best things i did for my back pain was swimming ... best thing by far - tried yoga before, tried massage and other ... swimming helps elongate the area that is constantly being squashed - so a few times a week of swimming helps prevent the stiffening and nerves being pinched.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

Pull ups will fix the problem.

[Tommy L]

Here's the thread someone mentioned on CGTalk: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=2&t=973771

 

Ill bite, I always throw my 2c in on this issue...

Dont address the symptoms, address the cause. Which is why a doctor is not going to help. And yoga does help, but only if you fix the cause. And swimming, and walking and posture and expensive chairs and all the other things people mention help. But fix the cause.

Whats the cause? Working sitting down for many hours a day. Period. The human body was not designed for this passive abuse. Sitting on the couch, driving, eating, working, always sitting.

Whats the fix? Well, you cant quit work, so work different. I have one sitting workstation and one standing. I split the tasks between the two. I'd say I spend 80% of the time standing (production), the rest on the phone, in meetings or managing the farm which are all seated tasks.

Combined with exercise and yoga this has fixed my nasty back problems. Next step is a 'walk-station'.

Oh, one other thing. Do some reading. There's plenty of literature out there about how your body works. Read some of it, you'll be in a better position to fix something when you know how it works.[ATTACH=CONFIG]42454[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]42453[/ATTACH]

[Inxa]

I had the same neck / backache / shoulder pain issues a lot. Even now I do have back pain but then the levels are less.

 

I follow -

 

- reduce weight if needed (I try a lot but the scales never go down )

- Do basic exercises to keep your joints moving

- Take a break of 5 minutes while working continuously. Do some stretching exercises, wrists, back, waist, shoulders, elbows etc.

- Follow ergonomics while working.

- You even need to rest your eyes, keep blinking. People get affected by dry eye syndrome. Basically, because of straining the eyes water levels are low and hence the eyes end up red or small boils are formed. Super irritating and painful.

 

Points mentioned by Brian are very true.

Edited April 28, 2011 by Inxa

[Paul Twyman]

This is a great thread, good to hear everyones ways of dealing with these things.

 

I have been getting neck and shoulder (and sometimes lower back) problems for the last couple of years due to my work posture. I always try to keep my posture good, but after 10 mins of getting into something I always realise I fallen back to my distorted 1 elbow on desk kind of thing with legs crossed.

 

I see a chiropractor and get a sports massage every couple of months which definitely helps and normally straightens me out again (for a few weeks), but does not really do anything to stop it happening again. Am thinking about trying physio as this will probably help train the muscles rather than just clicking things back.

 

Exercise definitely helps and training your core muscles really helps your posture.

 

I completely agree with Tom and that the only real solution is to try and improve you work posture as this will stop it happening in the first place. I really like the standing workstation idea but I really cannot imagine working like that, did it take awhile to get used to?

 

 

On another note, if anyone is seeing a chiropractor you might want to ask if they can do your wrists as well (only if they know how to of course, don't want to cause any other issues). Mine suggested this after I mentioned they were a bit sore and she managed to completely losen them up from their locked up state. (did realise how bad they were). Hurt like mad first time but now I have it done evertime and hopefully it will help to prevent anything more serious. I have also started using a wrist support when working to try and stop any RSI related injuries as well, knee and elbow pads are next!!!

[Matt Sugden]

I was getting a lot of back neck pain, and I had a crap chair. I bought one of these, http://www.hermanmiller.com/Products/Aeron-Chairs things have improved significantly. You can get them pretty cheap on ebay, and for the amount of time I sit at my desk it's worth while.

[Tommy L]

 

 

I completely agree with Tom and that the only real solution is to try and improve you work posture as this will stop it happening in the first place. I really like the standing workstation idea but I really cannot imagine working like that, did it take awhile to get used to?

 

 

nope, feels completely awesome from day one.

And just to be super crazy, if I work from home I work lying down on my front, cushions under chest, with a laptop on the floor! This helps enormously as you get a free 'cobra' for a couple of hours. Stretches out the anterior spinal tissues (which are usually compressed when sitting) and decompresses the whole spine in general.

[danb4026]

Good thread.....I constantly get knots in my back, right at the shoulder blade. The slightest thing can send it into a knot and spasm (lifting my head or rolling over in bed, turning my head to quickly, washing my hair etc). Never know when it is going to hit. Once it does, it lasts days, if not weeks. Sometimes I feel it coming on and try to relax so that it doesn't go into a full blow spasm, but usually if I concentrate on it, it just gets worse. Massage doesn't help either.

 

I have and aeron chair and try to sit upright. Typically the problem doesn't start while working, but sometime later when I least expect it.

[Andrew1]

nope, feels completely awesome from day one.

And just to be super crazy, if I work from home I work lying down on my front, cushions under chest, with a laptop on the floor! This helps enormously as you get a free 'cobra' for a couple of hours. Stretches out the anterior spinal tissues (which are usually compressed when sitting) and decompresses the whole spine in general.

 

lol Tommy,

 

I actually tried that the other day and my neck feels a lot better,

I think I will do sessions like that everyday for half an hour and see what happens,

what I did was lay down on my stomache with my chest right at the esge of the bed and

let my head hang there lose for about half an hour, you can feel everything slowely expending and stretching, it hurt for the first 5 minutes but after that it felt just great, I also rocked my head side to side and did small head turns.

 

I will see how I'll do next month so far it has helped by 35% feeling better.

I just want to mention that I also bought a specialty pillow with soft memmory foam,

Im determined to experiment with whatever I can to get rid of those pains and aches.

 

cheers,

 

Andrew