Jacqueline came in to see me this week with the complaint of neck and back pain.
Not from any injury...
But, from life...life at work actually
She works at the insurance desk in the office of a local M.D.
It obviously doesn’t matter where she works - it could be really at a desk in any business.
Neck and back pain do not always require an "injury" to begin.
Sometimes it’s the environment that is causing the problem -
* Jacqueline has an air conditioning duct right over her head causing her to have cold air blowing on her neck all day.
* Her computer monitor isn’t exactly right in front of her but slightly off to one side, and it is the wrong height for her and the chair she is using so she must sit with her head turned to one side and tipped up a bit all day long.
* Her work is totally sedentary and she gets few breaks to stand up, walk around and loosen up.
* Her work is very stressing, tense and very demanding.
* For her part - she is substantially out of shape and de-conditioned. Poor muscle tone / conditioning leads to musculo-skeletal imbalances which lead to random, diffuse and sometimes unexplainable aches and pains.
Sometimes a person will report they feel like they’re falling apart and everything hurts for no "apparent" reason.
In this case the work environment completes the equation for neck and back pain:
air-conditioning + poor /sedentary work posture + stress + poor conditioning = neck & back pain
What to do to fix the situation?
* Move the desk or move the AC duct to another place in the ceiling.
* Schedule breaks or change of activities to force movement and change of postures.
* Change the work station to improve regular work postures.
* Get a handle on the stressing parts of the job.
* Start getting regular exercise - improve over-all conditioning & get into shape.
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