Office work doesn’t typically fall under the category of manual labor, so you may think that your body isn’t really affected by your time on the clock. While it may not be traditionally stressful, desk work can prove to be quite stressful on different areas of your body, including your shoulder. If your shoulders have begun to hurt when you’re at the office, make a few adjustments to your work and home life to put an end to this discomfort. In today’s blog, we share some tips for preventing shoulder pain if you work a desk job.
Causes Of Shoulder Pain In Office Workers
You’re probably not moving heavy equipment or unloading freight from a cargo container at your desk job, but that doesn’t mean that your shoulders are never stressed when you’re at the office. The most common cause of shoulder pain in office workers is due to poor posture. If you’re slouched or hunched forward in your office chair, extra stress from this unnatural body position will be felt in your spine, neck and shoulders. Even if you have an ideal posture position, if your chair height is too high or too low, it’ll be your shoulders that have to take on additional strain in order to reach your keyboard or perform daily actions at your desk.
Aside from poor seated posture, other factors that may increase your risk of shoulder discomfort at the office include:
- Poor computer monitor positioning
- Repetitive mouse and keyboard use
- Poor neck and shoulder positioning when taking phone calls
- Prolonged sitting
- Sedentary lifestyle outside of work
Fortunately, a few simple adjustments can reduce your risk of developing shoulder pain and can serve to strengthen your shoulder complex as a whole. We’ll touch on those tips in the next section.
Tips For Preventing Shoulder Pain In Office Workers
You don’t need to completely overhaul your life in order to provide an ideal environment for your shoulders when you’re at the office. Making a few simple tweaks can go a long way in preventing excessive strain on the shoulders. Here’s what you’ll want to do:
- Ergonomic Environment – First, start by making some adjustments to your desk situation so that your back and your shoulders can more easily fall into a healthy alignment. Adjust your office chair so that your hips and knees are on a level plane and your lower back is supported while seated. Keep items that you use regularly within arm’s reach and consider taking phone calls on speaker phone or with the assistance of a headset instead of cradling the phone between your head and shoulder.
- Exercise Outside Of The Office – You may be pretty sedentary at the office, so it’s important that you try to be active when you’re not on the clock. Regularly pursue some moderate-intensity exercise during your free time that tests different muscle groups, like your arms, shoulders, hips, legs and ankles. This will help ensure that your shoulders are capable of managing static stress when you’re forced to be rather inactive at your desk for an extended period.
- Find Ways To Stand And Move – Find little ways to move around and relieve tension in your shoulders and neck when you’re at the office. Invest in a sit-to-stand workstation, take that phone call while standing or walk up and down the stairwell during your breaks. It may not seem like much, but the simple act of changing the static stress patterns on your body can help to take a lot of strain off muscle groups that handle a fair amount of pressure when you’re in a seated position. At a minimum, stand up and stretch for 30-60 seconds every half hour to give certain joints a short reprieve from stress.
- Shoulder Stretches On The Clock – You may not be able to go through a full body workout at your desk, but you can certainly do a few movements that help to maintain flexibility and function in your shoulder joints. Shoulder rolls, shoulder shrugs and over the head side stretches can all help maintain mobility in your shoulder while also relieving them of static pressure that can build up when you’re in a prolonged seated position. Do some simple shoulder stretches a couple times throughout the course of your work day, and you may notice that they are feeling stronger and more flexible after just a few weeks!
For more significant shoulder issues, or for some individual advice on overcoming shoulder issues that you face at the office, reach out to Dr. Holloway and his team today at (865) 410-7887.
