By
in
How many of us have neck and shoulder tension? Not a surprise when practically everyone puts their hands up – including teenagers! Why? There are many reasons – most common are stress, poor posture and prolonged use of the computer or laptop.
In my case, it was the prolonged use of the laptop. Laptops became popular in the 1990’s, and the smaller it was, the better. I remembered I owned the Toshiba Libretto – in those days, it was amongst the smallest and lightest laptops in the market. I was traveling a lot for work and obviously a small laptop was more convenient for me to carry around. However, it was the start of my neck and shoulder tension problems! I was sitting hunched over for hours – reading emails, making presentation charts etc. Being a right handed person, the tension developed more in my right neck and shoulder, and as the years passed, it became chronic pain. Some days, it was so bad that I couldn’t concentrate.
In those days, I didn’t know how to address the issue. I had massages, physiotherapy sessions, acupuncture but the tension and pain did not stay away for long – partly because I didn’t do those sessions on a daily basis and I was still using the laptop regularly!
It was only years later when I learnt Pilates (builds good posture by correcting muscle imbalances) and other methods like trigger point therapy and the rehab trainer, that I could improve and manage my neck and shoulder tension. The methods for relieving shoulder tension are quite simple and you can practice anywhere, anytime. Unfortunately, for most of us, we cannot stop using the laptop or computer – so we need a simple solution.
