This is an item for neck and shoulder pain. This can range from a constant
tense feeling to totally tight muscles. If you know of any ways to help
alleviate it... please share!

6 responses total.

I, like most of y'all, use a computer and typewriter for hours at a time,
daily. I am also a student and spend hours hunched over a tiny desk scribbling
notes. Thus, my shoulders and neck are always tense and achy. Every so often
a good samaritan will give me a shoulder rub. I have a friend in Occupational
Therapy who can rub those knots out of my shoulders and back (which hurts like
the devil at first but feels soooo good when the knot finally works out).
Nothing is as relaxing as a shoulder rub as far as I am concerned.

But, somestimes there's no one around to rub my poor shoulders. So I spend
weeks being all tense and achy. I try to sit with good posture (my shoulders
slouch when I get tired) and stretch my neck and back periodically. sometimes
I pop my neck, which I guess is bad but the cracking actually feels kinda
good. Does anyone kow of any way I can get rid of the tenseness myself? Maybe
there's some products out there? 

My shoulders really hurt! :(

Sounds like maybe you put your stress and tension in your trapezious (forgive
the spelling, it's not listed in my dictionary here at work) muscles.  If so,
couple of things work.  First, make sure you hold your head back, squarely
over your shoulders.  Most of us tend to push our heads forward when we sit
at the computer and the 20 lbs or so of our head is pulling on those muscles
causing them to tighten and shorten.  Secondly, sit straight in a chair, hold
the bottom of the chair with your hands to keep them down and lower your chin
on your chest.  turn slowly to left and try to push your chin slowly towards
your left breast, then gradually bring it back.  Then turn to the right and
do the same, stretching the muscles gradually.  An exercise physiologist
taught me that.  Do it a few times each direction keeping back straight.  But
mostly holding your head in an erect, over the body position is the most
helpful.

I've learned to give myself shoulder/neck rubs at work.  I spend nine hours
hunched over (the chairs are horribly aligned with the table levels), and it
really puts stress on my trapezius.  I usually pretend that I'm playing the
piano on my nexk and shoulders and work my way outward, pushing moderately.
Then I roll my head around a couple of times and repeat the whole process.
It keeps me okay for about an hour.  By "playing the piano", I mean drumming
your fingers one at a time like you would if you were playing the piano.  My
friend Rod gave the motion that name.  You want good back rubs?...Rod lived
in Sweden for a year.  I *love* him.  :-)

I mentioned this somewhere else in a similar item, but just recently was
reminded by an ad in a journal or catalogue or something.

There is a software product which will interrupt your work at selected
intervals and run you through an at-the-workstation "workout" designed to
lessen fatigue, improve flexibility and reduce repetitive stress injuries.

Of course, now that I've hit another item where I could point to this, I can't
find the ad/catalogue under this pile on my desk!    8*[

I'll keep an eye out for it and post a source if I can find it again (it may
have gone into the "circular file").

I used to sometimes get agonizing pain in neck/shoulder muscle area;
it started with tension when my husband was teaching me to drive 14 years
ago, and was aggravated by too-much pillow at night.  Hasn't happened
in years, I sleep differently now, but one exercise that seemed to help
then was to hold my head still while trying to rotate the upper-arm end
of the shoulder around the neck end of the shoulder. 

Mainly my neck and shoulders feel tight and tense all the time. Sometimes it
helps to just push my chin down to my chest, thereby stretching the muscles
in the back of the neck. It's hard to keep my shoulders from slouching when
they get tired.

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