As promised in our last post, here are some more reasons for the pain you are experiencing in your back and neck. As you’ll see, it can be simple, every day activities that cause repetitive stress and pain. We’ll also show you what you can do to repair the damage.

Lifting and Repetitive Movement

By imposing a high compression force on the spine, the back muscles protect it from overextending. The back muscles become fatigued with repetitive lifting tasks, increasing the bending moment on the lumbar spine. This negatively affects the balance between bending and compression.

The repetitive motion of lifting can cause problems even if the objects are a light as a feather. Simple tasks like twisting and bending or turning over in your sleep can aggravate back pain if your muscles are already fatigued.

What Should You Do?

When you lift, squat facing your work, keep your knees bent and your back fairly straight, to minimize the stress on your lower back. With your feet wide apart, keep the lifted object as close to your body as possible to avoid putting stress on your lower back.

Be aware that you can still develop back pain when your muscles fatigue from repetitive lifting, even if you lift everything correctly.

Text Neck

We put strain on our necks and spine that can cause serious, lifelong problems, when we continuously bend our necks to read and work on our cellphones and other electronic devises. By bending our head forward and down, which we normally do when using these devises, we apply an extreme amount of pressure on our necks, resulting in conditions that if not treated could result in surgery.

What Should You Do?

Instead of bending down toward your phone, lift it to eye level, keep your neck straight and look down with your eyes. Take regular breaks and exercise your neck.

Stop to assess your posture after working on your device. There is an app that you can install on your phone which will alert you when you are holding your neck in the wrong position.

Uneven Hips

Just doing your daily activities may cause lower back pain due to the imbalance of having one side of your pelvis a little higher than the other. Uneven hips may be the reason for your persistent back pain when exercising.

What Should You Do?

Avoid crossing your legs while sitting. This will cause an imbalance in your hip area.

Sit in a chair and bring one foot across the other leg. Place your hand on your knee and apply pressure against your hand with your knee, then relax your leg.

If you are looking for relief from your back, neck or shoulder pain, call Innovative Chiropractic in Mill Creek, WA and we will help you determine the right treatment program for you. Your body and spine will function better both mechanically and physically with chiropractic care.

Do you wonder why you are suffering from back pain? There are times when you immediately know what has caused your back pain, such as moving heavy things, falling, an accident or working in the garden. At other times you are puzzled.

Here are some things that might be causing your pain.

Sitting Too Much

One of the worst things you can do to your back is to sit all day. Our muscle joints and discs become weakened by inactivity. In order to pump the vascular system to provide oxygen to the tissues movement is essential. If we are sitting all day, that does not happen.

Many of us have desk jobs or sit in a vehicle for long periods at a time. The problem is that most people sit slouched over, leaning forward, or leaning backwards which is harmful to their spine. Most of us think of sitting as a resting position, but actually almost twice the pressure is put on the lower back and spine by sitting compared to standing.

What Should You Do?

Every 15 to 30 minutes stand up and stretch out, move your shoulders around in a circular motion, and clasp your hands behind your back and stretch.

To help your posture put your chair in a position that will allow you to sit up straight while you work. Your feet need to be flat on the floor and the middle of the computer screen in line with your eyes.

A lumbar cushion, pillow or a rolled-up towel placed behind the small of your back will help your posture by helping you maintain the natural curve of your spine when you are sitting. If you have a lower back disc condition avoid recliners.

Sleep

A third of each day is spent asleep in our bed and if we sleep with our neck or spine in the wrong position it can result in all sorts of back problems. If you wake up every morning with a sore back, it could be because your mattress is too firm or too soft. Your neck will flex unnaturally if your pillow is too high. The torque on our spine, when we twist and turn in our sleep, could cause the vertebrae to misalign.

What Should You Do?

Help keep the curve of your neck supported by using a cervical pillow. A fat round pillow between your arms and a flat pillow between your knees will help people who like to sleep on their side. If you prefer sleeping on your back, then a round pillow under your knees and small one under your lower back works best. Avoid sleeping on your stomach.

Give a too soft mattress more support by placing a sheet of plywood between the mattress and the bed base.

Laptop on Your Lap

Setting your laptop on your lap causes you to hunch over, putting strain on your neck to tuck your chin into your chest, and typing with your arms at an odd angle. This can result in numerous neck and back problems.

Because your monitor is immediately above your keyboard on your laptop, you are either looking down at the monitor or reaching up for the keyboard. This causes stress to your shoulders and neck muscles.

What Should You Do?

Use a laptop workstation where you can put the screen at eye level and then at elbow level add a separate keyboard and mouse. Your eyes should be level with the center of your screen when you sit up straight in your chair, and your elbows should be at a 90-degree angle when you type.

If you must have your laptop on your lap, use a portable laptop desk. Take note of its position and your posture.

Watch out for our next article where we will share more reasons behind your back pain.

If you want relief from your back, neck, or shoulder related pain, call us at Innovative Chiropractic and we’ll help you determine the treatment program that’s right for you.