Upper Back Pain & desk jobs
If you’ve ever had to sit at a desk for more than like 2 hours, you are probably more than familiar with the internal screaming of your upper back muscles and their constant signal of “Hey, we don’t like being seated and hunched over so can you just reset us to give some relief for like 10 seconds before we go back to screaming, thanks”
Unfortunately we were just never meant to be seated for anywhere from 6 - 10 hours a day and even more if you work at home…Unfortunately the upper back pain you get just between the shoulderblades is a byproduct of your desk posture! The pain you get in the upper back is actually to do with a postural condition called upper cross syndrome, it just becomes quite apparent after years and years of desk work or any work where you’re hunched over at the shoulders (Think, poor countertop height). Upper cross syndrome is essentially, your chest & shoulder become far too tight and restricted which then caves in your upper back causing it to round and become overtensioned or overlengthened, leaving it weak and prone to fatiguing rather quickly. It also affects you up at the neck, as your trunk begins to change and round, the neck will crunch to compensate so that you don’t walk around staring at the floor or looking downwards all the time.
What can you do for the pain in your upper back & how do you fix upper cross syndrome? I typically have conversations about symptoms & causes with almost each Remedial Massage I do. I don’t just want you to feel better for the day, the goal is to get you feeling better for a month and to make you much less restricted across the body. If you imagine that the pain you get in your rhomboids and the back of your neck is actually the symptom then you definitely need to get it worked on for some relief from the upper back pain but the CAUSE which is what we really need to delve into, sometimes in a separate session. Your pectorals and to some degree your traps are just killing you with tension. If we never treat the cause of why you’re getting the pain & problems in the first place, you’ll just be right back within a few days and as much as I like to see my clients regularly, I would be doing you a disservice.
In terms of self treatment at home, I always recommend a good chest stretch by opening up on a doorway, you’ll be able to adjust the stretch to hit your pecs and even your shoulder girdle in general. It will give you way more bang for your buck than stretching out the rhomboids and upper back (Remember, this is already overtensioned, more stretching would make it worse!) If you lean toward headaches, migraines, jaw clenching etc a good stretch for you would be to tuck your chin to your chest and then use a hand or two to pull the head down even further, a fan favorite. Sometimes stretches only give temporary relief just because it’s likely that you’re stretching to try and relieve something that has progressively become worse over days & weeks.
If you can’t get a standing desk or are otherwise unable to take regular breaks from working, you want a pillow or cushion right behind your mid back that forces your chest open and prevents the crunch.
Want someone else to just take care of it for you? That’s where I excel! If you’re after some upper back pain relief, book a Remedial Massage in and we will improve it in no time at all!
