Whether it’s working late or binge-watching Netflix in bed from your laptop, it is safe to say this is not music to your chiropractor’s ears. In fact, The Laptop Syndrome is your chiro’s worst nightmare!
Sitting slouched over your laptop (aka laptop syndrome) has a significant impact on your shoulders, neck and upper back. As a result, this is not an ergonomic ideal. Conversations about back and neck pain have become almost a colloquialism in the last 20 years. If you spend a lot of time looking over a laptop or computer, here are the things you need to know.
Why do I have shoulder and neck pain from after looking at my laptop?
The muscles in your neck naturally hold your head in an upright comfortable position. If your head is pushed forward looking down into a screen, your natural posture is altered. As a result, the muscles in your neck become strained. Pain in the neck and back can be caused if you are sitting in the position for periods of time and can result in more severe injuries in the future if not corrected.
What should I be doing to avoid Laptop Syndrome?
While often it can be hard to break recurrent habits there are some healthy tips you can implement when using a laptop to create an ergonomic work environment.
Don’t use your laptop on your lap
Make sure you are sitting upright on a chair with good back support and your feet firmly placed on the ground.
Keep your posture in front of mind
Be mindful of relaxing your shoulders. Check-in with your posture every 15 to 30 minutes. Pay attention to where you are positioned. Make sure you are not rolling your shoulders forward into your computer screen.
Use a laptop raiser
Make sure your screen is at eye level and you are not tilting your head down. This may help reduce the strain on your neck muscles.
Stand up for short intervals
Make sure to take regular breaks away from the screen. Sitting in a single position for hours on end can put a negative strain on muscles. It is helpful for you to take regular standing breaks to increase blood flow and relieve your muscles.
These suggestions do not guarantee to heal neck, back or shoulder pain; However, implementing these tips may help prevent more serious injuries in future and are good practice for correcting poor posture. If you are experiencing back pain or neck pain, it may be best to seek medical advice from your licensed chiropractor.
What effect can this have on my health ?
We all know that posture has an effect on headache, migraine, low back pain and sciatica but according to this recent study, your internal bodily organs and functions have attachment to the connective tissue that wraps around our bodies in the kinetic fascial chains and may explain why we feel well after movement, treatments and stretches…. Read more here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26281953
CONCLUSIONS:
The present systematic review suggests that most skeletal muscles of the human body are directly linked by connective tissue. Examining the functional relevance of these myofascial chains is the most urgent task of future research. Strain transmission along meridians would both open a new frontier for the understanding of referred pain and provide a rationale for the development of more holistic treatment approaches.
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