Headache and Neck Pain During the Workday
Hey, Dr. Ray and Dr. Vargas here with Pro Holistic Care. Today, we want to show you three exercises you can do at work to relieve headache and neck pain.
A lot of patients tell us that during the workday, their neck is hurting. They’re getting headaches, mostly from being at a computer, hunched over for hours and hours every day. Oftentimes, people aren’t getting up. They’re not moving around. So, we just want to show you a few things that you can do to alleviate some of the problems you’re having while you’re at work.
You don’t need any equipment. You don’t need a lot of space. You just need your body, and you need to stand up. Some of these exercises can be done seated, but my recommendation would be to get up, move around. That’s really helpful as well for your whole body. So, try doing these exercises standing at work.
How Posture at Work Affects the Muscles
When we have problems with our posture at work, what happens from being on the computer and hunched over is that the muscles in the front get really short. Our neck starts to curl forward, and the musculature in the back gets weak, tired, and you end up with poor posture.
So, a lot of these exercises are focused on bringing the neck back, loosening up the tight muscles in the front, and starting to regain some strength and mobility in the back.
First Exercise: Chin Tuck
Our first exercise is going to be something called a chin tuck. So, Dr. Vargas, you’re going to be our model here.
You’re going to clasp your hands behind your head and try to be nice and straight. And you are going to slowly push your head back into your hands, how Dr. Vargas is doing it here. You can do 10 to 20 reps two or three times a day, and that’ll be really relieving.
One thing you want to make sure that you’re not doing is tucking your chin down like this. That is not what we want to do because these muscles in the front are already overworking. We want to work the muscles in the back. So, lightly pushing the head into the hands like you’re tucking your chin back, not down.
Three sets, 10 or 20 reps, depending on what your body feels like, is good. Do that a few times a day. It’s really going to help.
Second Exercise: Squeezing the Shoulder Blades at a 90° Angle
For our next exercise, we are going to start to open up the mobility in the shoulders, stretch out those tight muscles here, and start to strengthen the back.
So, you want to put your arms at about a 90° angle and start going straight back and squeezing the shoulder blades together in the back. Again, you want to do 10 to 20 reps three times a day. It’ll only take you, you know, less than a minute.
This exercise can be challenging for some people. The shoulders can get tired if the shoulders, you know, are a little bit weak or you have shoulder injuries. So, start with however many reps you can do and build up to doing 10 or 20 reps a few times a day.
Third Exercise: Squeezing the Shoulder Blades at a 45° Angle
And the last one is very similar, but we’re going to come down at more of a 45° angle out from our body, about here. As you can see, Dr. Vargas is doing that. We’re going to get the muscles on a little bit lower part of the shoulder blades.
So, you really want to concentrate on having those palms facing out. You want to squeeze those shoulder blades together and make sure you hold it long enough to feel that nice stretch in the front.
Again, we’re going to do two or three times per day, 10 to 20 reps. If you need to start lower, start lower. If you can do 20 right away, go for it.
Loosening the Front and Strengthening the Back
All of those things are going to start to loosen up the front of the body, strengthen the back part of the body, get better mobility in the shoulder, better mobility in the neck, and really relieve some of that pressure on the neck, on the head during the day at work.
So, hopefully these are helpful for you. Give them a try. And that’s it.
