Tightness in your neck and shoulder? Here's what may be causing it, tips to cure
Tightness in the neck and shoulders is one of the most common problems that most people experience and it has only increased nowadays with work-from-home setups for adults and additional screen time for college students and young kids. Doctors share tips to cure it
If you suffer from sore neck or shoulders, you are not alone and have plenty of company especially, post the Covid-19 lockdowns which extended the work-from-home lifestyle and online classes that resulted in tightness in people's neck, shoulders and even back pain due to wrong postures. Stiffness or tightness in neck and shoulders has become the most common problem owing to the long hours of sitting before a laptop and bare minimum movement around amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Ravikumar Mukartihal, Consultant Orthopaedic and Joint Replacement Surgeon at SPARSH Hospital, revealed, “Due to work from home, a lot of minor issues are turning into major problems because of continuous overuse of the muscles. A majority of cases are seen among the younger crowd and we have specifically noticed this more among women. Bench workers or those that work for long hours on laptops, and people who have vitamin D deficiency are more susceptible to conditions like this.”
He added, “Technically, it’s not exactly the shoulder, it’s the sternocleidomastoid muscle which arises from the neck and goes towards the shoulder. Typically, this entire belt becomes tight when a person experiences tightness in neck and shoulders. When a person experiences tightness in the neck and shoulder, they are unable to concentrate and work for long periods and they have some form of inconvenience throughout the day.”
Causes of tightness in neck and shoulders:
Dr Sagar Pathare, Lead Rehabilitation at Mumbai's Nightingales Home Health Services, highlighted, “One of the most common causes for neck and shoulder tightness is posture. Among the working population, faulty workstation posture usually results in stiff neck and shoulder. While working, people tend to develop ‘Forward head and rounded shoulders’ and it is one of the key causes for neck and shoulder strain. Tilting our heads forwards to look at our phones/laptops imposes significant strain on our neck muscles.”
He added, “Nowadays, with work-from-home setups and additional screen time for college students and young kids, there has been an increasing number of cases of tightness in neck and shoulder. Some of the common causes for this condition are muscle tension, strain and poor posture. Additionally, apart from posture related causes, even psychosocial factors such as stress and anxiety can also lead to tightness.”
Dr Ravikumar Mukartihal classified the reasons for neck and shoulder stiffness into three categories:
1. Position-related neck spasm which can be effectively treated with good physiotherapy such as strengthening and mobilization exercises.
2. Vitamin D deficiency can cause soreness of muscles. In this case, some muscles are kept constantly in action and as a result it can cause tightness. In such cases, pain relieving modality of physiotherapy and supplements of vitamin D is recommended.
3. Fibromyalgia, a chronic musculoskeletal pain which can be eased with 3-4 sessions of dry needling. (Similar to acupuncture needles). Once the patient feels better, after a few weeks, we recommend neck strengthening exercises and physiotherapy for 4 weeks along with Vitamin D supplements. Once the patient is pain-free, we teach them some of the basic principles of ergonomics, especially for those who work long hours in front of the system.
Solutions:
Recommending about 8-10 physiotherapy sessions on the basis of the assessment, Dr Sagar Pathare suggested:
1. Set up a posture-friendly workstation. Getting a keyboard and a mouse followed by a chair with an arm rest can instantly improve your posture. You can also use a small pillow/roll for your lower back and rest your elbows time and again on the table/armrest of your chair.
2. Regular stretches to loosen up the muscles which you might unconsciously be tensing up. Stretch your neck, shoulders and back.
3. Take breaks regularly. Get up and take a quick walk around the house/office/cubicle. Activate and move those muscles. This will prevent any strain you might be developing due to stagnant posture.
Among ergonomic recommendations, Dr Ravikumar Mukartihal too suggested patients to take regular breaks by walking a few steps and relaxing and asked them to change the height of the chair, height of the laptop/desktop so that different groups of the muscle fibers work. He explained, “This ensures that the same group of muscles are not working constantly. Whenever someone is working on a table, their arm should be resting on the arm rest.”
He asserted that if there is no arm rest, they will constantly put pressure on the neck and shoulder muscles when they are working. Dr Ravikumar Mukartihal elaborated, “If both your arms are rested on the arm rest, your neck muscles are at ease. These are a few things that people rarely follow when they are working from home. This is one of the reasons why we have seen an increase in the number of neck and shoulder issues.”
Precaution:
It is important to note that if the pain is severe and the reason for the tightness is beyond posture, then the treatment modalities will be different. Do consult a qualified physiotherapist for a professional assessment in case of persistent symptoms.
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