How To: Combatting Tension in Your Neck and Shoulders

Tight shoulders are probably the worst thing to have after a day of work or after a big event. You’ve completed your normal daily routine of work and the last thing you want to deal with is your neck and shoulder pain. Or say you’ve been planning a huge event that caused you to have a lot of responsibility. During that time, you may not feel the pain, but when it’s all said and done and you don’t have anything else to focus on, you’ll feel it. So what is shoulder and neck pain and how can we fix it?

Causes

To know how to fix something we first have to know how to target it. So what are the causes of this annoying and terrible feeling. 

Stress

There is a chemical in your body that is released when you’re body goes into overdrive or becomes super stressed. This causes your muscles to react in a way that sends a message to your brain that says, “ouch”. This causes your head to hurt, your shoulders to lift up to compensate your tight muscles, and your upper neck and shoulders to ache.

Poor Posture

You may not think it, but your posture plays a big role in how your feel over all. Think about it, if you are sitting, hunched over all day, your back will hurt. If you’re not using proper posture for how you sit while typing, you’re bound to get carpal tunnel syndrome. If you’re sitting down all day looking at your phone or the computer screen, think of the consequences. Other muscles in your body will start overcompensating for your poor posture. Did you know that the muscles in your posterior can affect the way your entire body feels. Despite what many think, the tense muscles come from the base of your body.

Weak Muscles

Have you ever gone bowling? Silly questions, I am sure you have… When I ask if you’ve gone bowling, I am making a point. Remember the next day when your arm or elbow was sore? That is because your muscles weren’t strong enough or conditioned enough to yield the ball in such a way.

Symptoms

The symptoms may seem obvious, but there are some symptoms that you wouldn’t think would occur. For example, you may feel as though you’ve got tightness in your shoulders or shoulder blades, some may feel pain all the way down to the pads of their feet. Some may feel pain in the anterior part of their body, like in their pecs. You a may even feel pain in your jaw or adopt symptoms similar to Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMJ).

You may feel so much tension in your shoulders that you notice one shoulder is set higher than or maybe your shoulders are raised and rounded from being so tense. The pain may not be severe all the time, but surely you will have tension headaches, backaches, and maybe even some familiarity with migraines.

You know the saying, “You’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders”? That has two meanings… One, you’ve got a lot on your mind and two you’ve got a lot of figurative weight on your shoulders.

The weight of the world may sit on your shoulders but you’ll feel it in your entire body.

Ways to Fix It

There are many ways to fix tension in any part of your body, but many think that they need pain relievers or extreme measures like surgery to fix it. What are some non-invasive techniques to help conquer the tension?

Exercise

Daily exercise and movement is great. To combat stress, try exercises that involve a lot of movement. Running and dancing are great. Heck! Even roller blading or biking is great too.

Yoga

Yoga is great for those that need help with not only tension, but also to keep yourselves tight and limber. Yoga takes your mind and body to another place to combat the stress. It’s a time away from the world when you have to focus on your actions. What are your favorite yoga poses?

Weight lifting

Remember when I said one of the causes was from muscles weakness? Weight train your muscles properly to gain the strength that you need so that your muscles don’t have to stress or tense to compensate for the stress that you’ve going going on.

Stretching Regularly

This is a no brainer, but stretching your muscles regularly allows them to have the proper movement so that they can work to the best of their ability. Your muscles need to be exercised just like your brain does. Don’t let them go. Stretching when we wake up is natural as when we sleep our muscles are stagnant.

Pro Tip

Make sure you’re drinking tons of water. Water keeps your body lubricated like a well oiled machine. Stress can actually cause you to become dehydrated

 

Tension in your neck and shoulders is no joke. Don’t live with the pain if you can easily fix it. What are some ways that you combat tension?

 

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