Ergonomically Yours

Picture this; you are just finishing a grueling work week. Your neck hurts and your shoulders are tight. It feels as though your shoulders a drawn up around your ears.

Does all this sound familiar? It should. Stress affects us everyday. The pressures of work and personal relationships can make us feel like a giant knot all by themselves. For most of us, however, this is just the beginning of our stress. Physical ailments that exist because of current conditions and those that continue to haunt us from the past i.e. old auto accident injuries, falls off our bicycles, years of postural stress etc. also contribute directly to our general tension level.

I am sure that most of my readers can recall a time when they went to work with some kind of neck pain or other body ache that made them much less amicable.

The process that takes place is simple and much more damaging then you might think. Our bodies are very good at compensating for stresses whether they are physical or emotional. However, if the stresses exist for a long enough period of time or if they are compounded by other stresses, our bodies start to express this build up of stress in various ways. For some people, stress and tension will generate headaches. For others the continued stress will trigger episodes of neck or back pain.

For either of the above examples, the process that takes place involves the body responding to stress with muscle tension. More often than not, our physical response to stress involves a tightening of the muscles in the shoulders and upper back. In addition to this tightening of muscles causing neck and back pain, it also raises blood pressure, burns energy causing physical fatigue and in some people causes mental fatigue.

Unfortunately, we are probably stuck with our jobs and although stressful, we elect to keep our relationships. These things are pieces of our lives that many of us have no choice but to accept (we could if we really wanted).

We can more easily take better care of our bodies. Proper ergonomics at work and home, breathing techniques, yoga, exercise, massage and of course chiropractic treatment can go a long way in counteracting stress and general tension.

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Here’s To Your Health

Yours Ergonomically,

Dr. Jones

Economic Mouse Pad
San Diego Chiropractic
Pain Relief San Diego Chiropractic

(619) 280-0554