Don't Just Sit There!

I have many people complain to me that they have sore shoulders, necks and lower backs and quite often the pain stems from the fact that we can spend most of our waking hours sitting down, either at a desk at work, in a car commuting, or in front of the TV in the evening, which is not something our bodies are particularly designed to do. The image below summarises the effects that prolonged sitting can have on the body.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/health/sitting/Sitting.pdf

Quite often, if you have sore, tense shoulders, it is actually the muscles in the chest, such as pectoralis minor, that have become chronically short and tight, leaving the muscles in your upper back and shoulders, such as your trapezius muscle, taut and over stretched. Similarly in some cases of low back pain, the hip flexors may be tight, pulling your pelvis into an anterior tilt which puts pressure onto the muscles and structures of your back. Muscles such as your abdominals and your glutes play an important role in supporting you during movement become weak and unable to perform their function effectively, leading to further injury and pain issues. 

When people come to see me with pain issues such as these, I can assess them to identify any short and tight muscles, treat with massage and soft tissue techniques and provide stretching advice. I can also identify weakened muscles and provide advice on exercises to do to strengthen them which will then help them to hold themselves in a better position long term and prevent the pain from recurring. 

So if you are getting to the end of the year and feeling sore and achey, why don't you book in for a treatment to ease that pain and set yourself up for a pain free new year?