Why You Have Shoulder Injuries, A Stiff Neck & Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (And How To Fix Them)

Why Your Neck Is Freaking Killing You, And You Keep Getting Shoulder/Elbow Issues (Neck Pain And Shoulder Pain 101)

Working at a computer for 10 hours is a beautiful thing – assuming of course, you actually like permanently damaging your neck and spine.

Guess what – if you keep getting stiff or sore necks, burning between your shoulder blades, carpal tunnel syndrome, or a whole host of other upper-back/neck issues, you are not alone.

This is what I call “computer caveman syndrome” and is basically what is becoming of many of us 21st century computer users.

Exclusive Bonus: Download this definitive guide to stopping neck and shoulder pain, which has several techniques not listed here.

If You Have Rotator Cuff/Shoulder Issues, Frozen Shoulder, Neck Pain/Stiff Neck, Headaches Or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Ahhh I hate my computer.

In geek speak, upper crossed syndrome means your neck is poking out and your shoulders are hunched over.

It’s increasingly the posture that a lot of young kids (and adults) are having because they spend hours on a computer a day, which naturally results in a couple things:

A head that pokes out. The neck goes into flexion — and starts poking out, meaning the traps and neck muscles go into overdrive to still hold it up (stiff neck?). Some of you probably can’t get comfortable while sleeping (neck pain), or have been suffering from headaches — if so, your head position throughout the day should be the first thing you evaluate.

The shoulders meanwhile roll forward and get hunched — limiting their ability to rotate outwards. This is part of the reason why you’re probably getting lots of rotator cuff injuries or elbow injuries like tennis elbow.

You’re also probably getting burning between the shoulder blades, and/or numbness in one arm, hand or fingers.

If you’re a weightlifter, you most likely have experienced biceps tendonitis or repeated shoulder issues.

What’s going on:

What’s going on here is that the neck muscles are in overdrive because they are sticking out and trying to fight gravity – imagine trying to hold a 10lb ball over your head!

It’s easy when it’s straight up, but try holding it at a 45 degree angle. Hard.

Now you know what your neck is going through when it isn’t aligned properly. It’s fighting gravity constantly to try and stay aligned, which is a hell of a lot of work that your neck muscles don’t like.

The other big thing (aside from the neck) is that the shoulder blades are elevated and higher up, rather than kept back and low.  Pretty standard stuff if you sit at a computer all day. It sucks.

Priority: Return the shoulder and neck alignment to normal.

How to fix it –

1. Stretch/relax the shortened muscles: basically all the muscles in the upper back and neck, like the trapezius, sternocleidomastoid, and the chest muscles like the pectoralis
2. Re-align the neck and shoulders: get that neck re-aligned, and get those shoulders back and pushed back down

For your neck:

1. Static back (5 min, 20 min if you have burning between shoulder blades)

Directions:

The legs should be at a 90 degree angle, and the shoulders and head should naturally rest on the ground and flatten.

Hold for 5 minutes if you have neck pain.

If you have shoulder issues or burning between shoulder blades, hold for up to 20 minutes.

2. Static wall (5 min)

Directions:

Try to get your butt as close to the wall as possible. Flex the feet back until you feel a strong hamstring stretch.

Hold for 3-5 minutes, and keep the feet flexed back.

3. Sitting floor (5 min)

Directions:

Try to back your butt up against the wall, and then pull your shoulder blades back and let them press flat against the wall.

Flex the feet back towards you.

Make sure the head stays back pressed against the wall naturally.

Let the hands rest palm-up in your lap.

Hold for 4 minutes.

For your shoulders:

1. Wall Pec Stretch (Two sets of 30 seconds, each side)

Directions:

Put one arm against a door way or piece of furniture and stretch – do two sets of 30 seconds on each side.

2. Static back (hold for 20 mins)

Directions:

The legs should be at a 90 degree angle, and the shoulders and head shoulder naturally rest on the ground and flatten.

Hold 10 minutes. If you have shoulder issues or burning between shoulder blades, hold for up to 20 minutes.

3. Sitting floor

Directions:

Try to back your butt up against the wall, and then pull your shoulder blades back and let them press flat against the wall.

Flex the feet back towards you.

Make sure the head stays back pressed against the wall naturally.

Let the hands rest palm-up in your lap.

Hold for 4 minutes.

4. Broom external rotations

Directions:

Grab a broom or stick in one wrist, and rotate it over your shoulder. Grab with the other hand and pull upwards until you feel a deep stretch in the shoulder.

Do two sets of 30 seconds on each side.

Upper Crossed Syndrome Recap:

Upper crossed syndrome is modern computer user caveman syndrome. It’s what caused me the vast majority of pain in the past few years, as well as chronic shoulder injuries, neck pain, and burning upper back pain.

What’s basically going on is that the upper back and shoulders are not aligned with the rest of the body, they’re kind of just hanging there. The shoulders hunch forward, the neck muscles go into overdrive, and the neck sticks out and basically gets stuck fighting gravity.

== Pain.

This is the beginning of a long line of issues and pain. From here a number of things can happen, headaches can set in from the pinched nerves and reduced oxygen flow in the neck, constant neck pain and stiffness can occur, frozen shoulder can start setting in, etc.

How Often Should I Do All These Things?

If you’ve been repeatedly getting the same injuries or pain, then you should probably just incorporate these into a 5 – 10 minute mobility session 5+ times a week.

The postural exercises should be done every day if you are in pain.

Why You’re Suffering From Chronic Pain

In my own experience these are mostly side effects of sedentary life.

Being sedentary does two major things:

1. A. Lets muscles atrophy (basically everything if you aren’t exercising)
2. B. Tightens certain muscle groups (like the hips and groin, or neck and back)

The result? These two things lead to poor bodily alignment.

Poor bodily alignment leads us to a few things:

1. Chronic tension (like upper back pain from hunching over a computer all day).
2. Improper muscle activation and bio-mechanics when exercising (back pain or knee pain when running? Shoulder pain when bench-pressing or doing pushups?)
3. Forces certain body parts into positions they don’t like being in (like your neck from looking at a computer screen.)

These all lead us down the road to chronic pain.

Just check out my “Why Cavemen Never Had Backpain” post. Look at the pictures of people’s posture in the 1800s and 1900s compared to now. It’s scary.

A lot has changed in the last hundred years. We really do need to treat health as modern health. The requirements for modern humans to get healthy, fix pain, or lose weight are far different from someone 100 years ago.

Anyway, try those out and let me know how it goes!