The weight of the world on your shoulders?

Modern lifestyles, compounded by the Covid pandemic and instructions to ‘work from home’, have meant many of us have spent far longer than normal at home, often hunched over laptops, tablets or mobile phone screens.

Now, the average human head weighs around 5kg. That’s bigger than most newborn babies and it takes muscular effort to keep that head of yours balanced on top of just seven vertebrae in your neck. For every cm or degree your head is carried forward, weight is added and those muscles have to work harder and harder to simply maintain some postural balance. In addition the vertebrae of your spine gradually translate forward until, one day, you notice you have developed a bony ‘lump’ at the base your neck and your posture seems to be more ‘rounded’. A bit like that elderly relative who never could seem to stand upright! The additional strain on your muscles will cause pain and discomfort in your neck and shoulders, often mingled with pins and needles or numbness in the arms and hands. Much of my work with clients who present with these symptoms involves reeducating posture, assessment of work space and exercises to help restore balance. Change wont happen overnight but it’s often only lifestyle ‘tweaks’ and  adherence to simple exercise solutions that bear results.