Neck & Shoulders love!

Five years ago while practicing the move on the left, I was brutally introduced to the world of shoulder pain when my grip failed and I landed on a cement floor on the side of my head and my shoulder... not my finest moment, this trainer knows better than to be attempting anything like this for the first time without a crash mat, two things I learned in that crash... 1. safety first and 2. shoulder injuries are no fun!

Whether you are dealing with an injury or your lifestyle is contributing the latest RSI, tech neck; the end result is, it hurts!

The shoulder is really a remarkable web of muscle and connective tissue... so many moving parts and so much room for things to go wrong!  It is imperative to not only stretch the shoulders, but to strengthen the joint and create stability to ensure health in the joint and optimal mobility!

For me there was a torn rotator cuff, strained tendons, a tear in my deltoid and a dislocated collar
bone... at the time I had just started out on my own in my new studio... I was my business, and I had to figure out my recovery, fast!

Stretching had always been a huge part of my training program, after my injury it became my entire program!  As someone who refuses pharmaceuticals, finding natural alternatives became my purpose, because I refused to accept that this pain was my new normal, or that I would be held back from anything that I aspired to physically!

What amazed me was how many people were 'living' with chronic pain in their neck and shoulders!  My efforts to rehab my own pain translated into new training and lots of relief for my clients too!  No trick went untried, and in the end I had a full arsenal of strength, and stretch, neck and shoulder love programs!

Fortunately I wasn't dealing with a lot of people who had dropped themselves off a pole onto their head, I was dealing with office workers who didn't have proper work stations, or spent entirely too many hours a day hunched over a computer or other device!  Stress on their physical body that was taking it's toll!

Our bodies are designed to survive, there are a whole lot of things that happen without our conscious knowledge within our bodies as it reacts to our environment, and strives to survive.  For those who live in a state of chronic stress many claim to carry that stress in their shoulders; and they are 100% correct; you see regardless of the perceived threat; if it carries on long enough, our shoulders begin to naturally hunch and curl forward... this I have learned, is our bodies way of using our skeletal structure to protect our vital organs from the ongoing threat of our perceived stress!

Others who spend their work lives at a desk experience the same natural hunch and curl from sitting in that position for prolonged periods of time.  As the shoulders tighten the neck is pulled and the end result is reduced mobility in the neck and shoulders, chronic pain in both areas, possibly headaches or even migraines! 

Sitting at a desk leaning forward to look at a screen not only affects your neck, the domino affect is real, as your shoulders and even your pelvis tilt and pull to keep you in balance!  Tilting your head forward takes the 10-12 lbs of pressure on your neck when holding your head up to a whopping 60 lbs of pressure in a full downward gaze tilt... over extended periods of time you can imagine the stress and strain you are creating! 

As I made my way through healing I would often describe the pain as 'noisy'; it was constant and there was little to no relief in positional changes!  My own recovery was slow, but I am happy to report I believe my strength and mobility is actually better now than before I was injured - the pose that dropped me on my head is now part of my regular practice, the picture above was taken this passed February!

So how do you combat these issues? 

Start with correcting posture, when you are sitting at your desk make sure that it is ergonomically correct for you, and keep the shoulders rolled down and back and try not to lean into the screen but rather pull your chin back and line your neck up in it's natural flow over your spine.  Ideally spending less time over devices would be best, but when it isn't possible, there are a number of exercises and stretches that will go a long way to relieving pain and reversing some of the damage! 

Whether the stress in your life is emotional or physical the reality is this; left unchecked the damage will be painful, and in some cases irreversible!  You may not be able to quit your job, but you can absolutely show your body some love!  Join me at Namast'ay At Home on facebook for this weeks magic tricks to combat shoulder and neck pain!