Resolutions Anyone?

Good news for the New Year and all those exercise resolutions! Chronic shoulder and neck pain can be helped with exercise. This is not new information since many studies have shown that exercise helps to reduce pain and improve general well being. However, this study’s findings target specific Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) that is becoming commonplace, affecting millions of office workers.

RSI (aka overuse syndrome) is the repetition of hand, arm and upper body movements in many ordinary tasks in the workplace. With these activities, shoulder and neck muscles can become chronically tight and painful. The trapezius is one of the muscles especially affected by RSI. Its three sections extend from the base of the skull, laterally to the shoulder blade and down the back to the lower thoracic vertebrae. The function of the trapezius involves supporting arm and shoulder movements. Chronic muscle tension in the trapezius can contribute to muscle tenderness and pain that can radiate down the arm or up into the neck and head resulting in headaches.

In the 2009 study, from the Journal of Applied Physiology, investigations showed that specific strength exercises using weights can decrease neck pain and improve muscle response to neural stimulation. Significant improvement was measured after 10 weeks of performing five simple exercises.

The exercise routine includes shoulder shrugs, one-arm rows, bent rows, reverse flyes and shoulder abduction. Three sets of each exercise were done for 8-12 repetitions using varying weights, three times a week. The movements focused primarily on the actions of the trapezius in relation to shoulder motion and to strengthening the three individual sections of the muscle.

It’s amazing that such a simple practice and small amount of time can yield such positive results. Physical movement in general is a great way to positively affect your health. But when more specific movements, that don’t take a lot of time, can make such a difference…well that’s the resolution I’m going to make.

Happy New Year!
Sherry LaBeck, ND