Neck Pain and Desk Posture

Did you know… The way you’re sitting in your chair RIGHT NOW might be predisposing you to neck pain.  This is an important article for you and anyone you know that uses a desk daily.
“Slump sitting” also referred to as upper or proximal crossed syndrome is associated with neck flexion and forward head carriage which causes an imbalance of muscles in the neck and upper body (1).  Often when sitting at desks for long periods of time, our important spinal and neck stabilizing muscles fatigue which can result in the recruitment of larger associated muscles.  We often see hypertonic (too tight) pectoral and upper trapezius muscles in conjunction with hypotonic (weak) deep neck flexors and rhomboid muscles.   Slump sitting and the imbalance of muscles that usually result from it, can also be accompanied by neck tension and pain. 
 
Office workers with and without neck pain were found to have a 10% increase in forward head posture from their relaxed sitting postures when working with a computer (2).  This suggests that office workers [or anyone who works with a computer including school aged children and teenagers] is at risk of developing forward head posture along with postural fatigue that we see in upper crossed syndrome.
 
The good news though is that there is strong evidence to support the effectiveness of endurance and strengthening exercises for treating non-specific neck pain in office workers (1).  Exercises to strengthen the deep neck flexors and to encourage mobility of the spine can be found in the link below.
 
https://www.sproutinghealthchiropractic.com.au/free-exercise-sheets.html
 
 

1. Caneiro, J. P., O'Sullivan, P., Burnett, A., Barach, A., O'Neil, D., Tveit, O., & Olafsdottir, K. (2010). The influence of different sitting postures on head/neck posture and muscle activity. Manual therapy, 15(1), 54-60.
2. Szeto, G. P., Straker, L., & Raine, S. (2002). A field comparison of neck and shoulder postures in symptomatic and asymptomatic office workers. Applied ergonomics, 33(1), 75-84.