Ever since I started my online store, I’ve been sitting in front of my computer for long hours. It’s been more than a year I last sat for more than 5 hours in a day in front of the computer.  Most of the time, Baby is on my lap, latched on to her fix!    As a result, I am now having serious pain in the neck and shoulders.  It does not help that I am now on holiday at my parents’ in Ipoh and my fitball is in KL.   Today the pain is exceptionally nagging and I have started to do some neck exercise to alleviate the discomfort. The neck exercise is indeed helpful and can provide a little relief instantly.

Here’s some information on neck and shoulder pain along with some neck exercises which I obtained from www.hubpages.com/hub/stiff-neck-shoulder:

Neck and shoulder pain can be caused by something as simple as sleeping the wrong way, or as serious as a herniated disk – and one can be just as agonizing as the other! To be safe, always take things gently when trying to loosen and stretch the area, to ensure you don’t make any injuries worse.

If you know the pain is the result of injury, you should start with an ice pack. The aim is to stop inflammation in its tracks – otherwise it will be even more painful tomorrow! Once the injury has settled down, or if you know the pain is muscle spasm, then a heat pack will work better.  However, heat can make inflammation worse – so if there’s the slightest chance there’s an underlying injury, don’t risk it no matter how tempting that soothing heat may sound! 

Shoulder pain is often not really in the shoulder at all – it’s what is called “referred pain” from the neck.  So if your problem is shoulder pain, it’s worth trying some of the neck exercises as well, to see if they help.

Basic Neck StretchesBegin with the gentlest neck stretch. Lie down on the bed. Now slide the back of your head away from your shoulders – think about lengthening the back of your neck. Your head will tilt forward slightly and your chin will tuck into your neck. Pull your chin in as far as you can and press the back of your neck into the mattress for 10 seconds, then relax. Do 3 sets of 10. You may want to be alone when you do this exercise – if you do it right, it will make you look like you have a really attractive double chin (if not several)!

Next, still lying on the bed, roll your head from side to side. Don’t try to force it or control it, just let your head turn gently and rhythmically from one shoulder to the other. You could even play some music to keep time to! Keep this up as long as you can manage – you’ll find your range gradually increases, the longer you keep rolling.  If this is easy, you can do the “chin tuck” exercise sitting or standing in front of a mirror. Looking straight ahead, tuck your chin into your neck (there are those gorgeous double chins again) and push backwards, stretching the back of your neck. To make this stretch stronger, you can put both hands on your chin and push back. Don’t drop your head – if you keep looking in the mirror, it helps you hold the right posture.  These exercises can be done several times a day, whenever you remember.

You  can read the rest of the neck exercises by logging on to hubpages.com at the link given above.