by Dr. Brent Wells
Absorbed. In the zone. Lost in the words.
As a writer, you may often enjoy your work most when you find yourself absent from the rest of the world. Like a runner focused on the goal ahead with no intention of slowing down, you work until you achieve what you set out to do.
This can be a beautiful thing unless you’ve elected a running form that leads to unnecessary discomfort. You may find yourself so absorbed in forming paragraphs that you simply don’t realize your physical position has deteriorated to the point of causing harm.
Throw in some ambition, stress, and the intensity with which you’re working, and your body may begin to let you know that it has an opinion regarding your work habits. Unfortunately, it most often expresses itself through pain, and for writers, it’s often neck pain that shows up first.
Lots of Writing Can Lead to More than Just a Stiff Neck
While unpleasant, stiffness, discomfort, and pain lets you know that portions of the body are no longer functioning at their best. Simply shifting one way or another may not always be sufficient. You often need to take some time to care directly for the tools you’re using (neck, arms, head, shoulders).
Physical manifestations of this type do not have to be due to an injury or traumatic life event. It can be as simple as working at your regular tasks with such vigor that you become unaware of the placement of your body. Over time, these small alerts can go from being irritating to being downright painful and even disruptive to your work.
Spending a good portion of the day working with written forms of communication can bring greater risk to the neck, shoulders, arms, and forearms. Fatigued or strained muscles in the neck and shoulders can lead to spasms that can cause pain or stiffness. A writer’s neck may also offer increased discomfort if an injury or joint condition is present.
Spinal stenosis (a narrowing within the spinal column) and disc conditions in the cervical vertebrae can also bring stiffness to the neck area. But sometimes it’s just tension, stress, and regular use that can damage muscles and joints to the point of pain.
How Does a Chiropractor Help with a Writer’s Stiff Neck?
Stiffness in the neck can serve as an early warning signal that tension levels are elevated beyond what the body is meant to endure. Focused care of the spine helps redirect the body’s ability to prevent pain while it is still in the beginning stages.
Chiropractic adjustments work to bring alignment back to the nerve housings in the spine and joints. Yes, ergonomic workstations and proper posture help, but you can also benefit greatly from regular and intentional care.
Common chiropractic treatments that can create benefits for writers include:
- Detailed, specialized care of the neck and spine – Chiropractic treatments provide care that focuses on individual segments in the spine. Focused care allows for misalignments to be cared for more directly and expediently. Perhaps only some of your neck joints are causing your pain, but the remaining joints may still benefit from care.
- Cervical vertebrae alignment – Vertebrae in the spine help protect nerves that are meant to provide a communication system between the brain and body. If those bones are slightly askew, pain may result. Misalignments also disrupt the spine’s incredible information superhighway.
- Improved nerve function – As vertebral alignment improves, miscommunications between the brain and body decrease allowing for more efficient–and relaxed–writing experiences. The brain and body are designed to work together and will do this better when the nerves are permitted to do their individual jobs.
- Customized care based on daily tasks and personal needs – The time you spend away from your writing space may be contributing to the pain you feel while working. Customized care can help you review your daily tasks, writing positions, and general work conditions. Care of this style and caliber is offered at local clinics like Better Health Chiropractic & Physical Rehab in Juneau.
- Improved neck comfort through direct care to the vertebrae – Direct care of the cervical vertebrae means that the source of stiffness and pain is addressed head-on. Care begins at the moment an issue is encountered during a treatment. You need not schedule surgery or more invasive processes.
Medical Note: Fever, nausea, headache, vomiting, and signs of infection may be experienced in conjunction with a stiff neck and may be present due to rare but serious spinal infections. Seek immediate medical care.
5 Ways Writers Can Prevent Work-Related Neck Pain
1) Place All of Your Work at Eye Level
You may already be aware of the importance of placing your monitor in a position that allows you to look down no more than 15 degrees. However, do your daily work habits represent this position on a regular basis?
Does the sun shine in from a window drawing you to change how you sit at certain times during the day? Must you answer phone calls that cause you to view your screen differently for a good portion of the workday? Maybe your writing involves handwritten documents in which your eyes are drawn to a desk surface much of the time.
Whatever your work setting, look for creative ways to ensure that all bits of work are completed with your neck, back, and shoulders aligned. How much of the day could you draw a reasonably straight (invisible) line from the top of your head through your neck and spine to reach the floor? The more, the better.
Work in a position that draws your face upward to allow your eyes to naturally fall into that 15 degrees slot of vision. This will also help with number two!
2) Avoid Squinting or Scrunching to View Your Work
Proper vision wear, screen size and function, and workspace layout all play a role in a comfortable workspace. In spite of your best efforts, you may find that working with joy and intensity means that your brain runs faster than your fingers can type. Soon you may notice that your eyes are where they need to be but your body has left its best placement.
Find ways to help you create a new posture habit. Put a brightly colored sticky note at the edge of your screen (if you do not already have others there). Set a timer on your computer to ding softly or visually alert you as a reminder to check your body position a few times per hour. Once you develop the habit of happy spinal posture it will get easier to stay in a neck-friendly position when writing moments become intense, stressful, or exciting.
3) If You Sit, Use a Chair with a High Back
This helps to relax shoulder and neck muscles with more regularity. From this, you will find yourself less likely to move your body around into less desirable positions. You may wish to extend this concept to lightly support your head. If so, be sure the headrest does not push your head forward. On the same note, your head must not fall backward creating neck strain.
4) Write About What You Love
Writing about topics that inspire you most helps you stay relaxed and in charge of your physical position. If you spend much of your time writing about situations and topics that bring you stress, you may want to reconsider your subject matter. Mental stress can draw you into physical positions that bring tension and can strain joints in the neck, back and shoulders.
In addition, subjects that simply do not keep your interest are more likely to bring you mental stress. Choosing topics that challenge your thinking or bring you joy are more likely to help you stay relaxed, interested, and calm.
5) Relax and Enjoy Being Creative!
Deadlines, subjects for which you are unfamiliar, your work atmosphere, and any number of other factors may bring you to feel stressed as you write. You may be left with a sense of frustration instead of joy for having completed the task once you do finish.
Work to enjoy what you do! If you must write about a subject matter that does not interest you, perhaps you can find a way to bring a new perspective to it. Chances are that others interested in reading about that subject will also enjoy a new view of the subject as well!
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Dr. Brent Wells is a graduate of the University of Nevada where he earned his bachelor’s of science degree before moving on to complete his doctorate from Western States Chiropractic College. He founded Better Health Chiropractic & Physical Rehab in Alaska in 1998. He became passionate about being in the chiropractic field after his own experiences with hurried, unprofessional healthcare providers. The goal for Dr. Wells is to treat his patients with care and compassion while providing them with a better quality of life through his professional treatment.
For more information on Dr. Wells, please see his website.