What do we do on a daily basis? We wake up, sit down, have a cup of coffee and read the newspaper. We sit in our car and drive to work. We arrive at work and sit down to work. For the next several hours we place and answer phone calls, enter data, research information and communicate with the computer. After the long day, we get back in our car and drive home. We get home, sit down and have dinner, watch the television, and go to bed. Eight hours later, press repeat. The vicious cycle begins again! Fast forward ten years later;

shoulder pain, neck pain, headaches, numbness & tingling in the hands, weakness in the arms & hands, slumped posture, rounded shoulders, forward head

How we look today is the result of years of... Are these signs and symptoms that you are experiencing. But why does this occur? How did this happen to me? How can I fix the problem? The basic premise here is that we become accustomed to our environment. Not too mention gravity is working against us.

Our body as a whole will adapt to the positions we place them in on a daily basis. The muscles in the front of our body become tight and the muscles of our upper back (around our shoulder blades) become stretched out and weak. This in turn weakens our neck muscles, and our head now drops forward.

The front neck muscles become weak and stretched out, and the back neck muscles become very tight. Remember our head attaches to our neck, and our neck attaches to our upper back and shoulders. There is constant communication among all of the parts and each part relies on the neighbor above and below it.

Where are you muscle?

Muscles function properly when they are in an optimal position. Meaning muscles do not work well when they are either stretched out or very tight. When this occurs, the muscles will pull on the bones abnormally and place added stress on the discs and joints in our neck, back, and shoulders. If this occurs for a long period of time, our joints become inflamed and the discs may bulge.

When the discs bulge in our spine, they now have tendency to irritate the nerves. The nerves that supply our shoulders, arms, and hands come from our neck. So, when we experience pain and discomfort in the shoulders, arms and/or hands, the problem may be in our neck or upper back area. The great news here is that simple changes to your daily routine will dramatically influence the aforementioned issues and hopefully prevent them from occurring in the first place!

The Upper back, Neck and Shoulders

The upper back, neck and shoulders as a whole is a very complex group of joint muscle and the motions that those joints go through are even more complex. Here is what people do not understand about way the neck and shoulders work and how to get relief from any ache or pain.

The curvature of the lower spine plays a vital roll in the position and function of the upper spine, so in order to get the upper back neck and shoulder to feel right and function properly you will need to address the entire spine top to bottom.

I know that sounds like a lot of work but knowing what is wrong and how to address the problem correctly is more than half the battle.