I was chatting with some EEM students 'over the garden fence' today - we get together every Wednesday online. Topics tend to find themselves each week and this week we started talking about back pain. This gave me the perfect opportunity to share with everyone the 3 'tools' I have to hand on my desk, that I use every day to keep my shoulders free of pain, from too much screen time! They really do sit on my desk as then, my eyes rest on them and my brain registers and my body says - do it now!
OK so what are these three things?
#1 The long handled brush. Lots of hard little plastic spikes to bounce up and down on the major muscles on the shoulders and upper back to improve the flow of blood, lymph and energy. This is a particularly 'posh' one a student gave me from the Far East but you can use a hairbrush or even just your fingers. The idea is to get things moving in the area as where there is stagnation there will be pain and problems. After you've stimulated everything by tapping it, make sure you brush it off so it doesn't just settle down again.
#2 2 tennis balls in a sock. Put against the back of the chair, or on the wall, lean against and massage up and down between the shoulders. The more distance between the wall and your feet the more pressure on the balls. Bliss. If tennis balls are a bit too hard, try the firm dog play balls. Position them so that nothing is touching the spine itself, but massaging the muscles on either side of the spine and obviously if you have any problem or injury of the spine, do not do this as it might aggravate the condition. However, on a healthy spine, this is a great thing to do, just for a minute or two when you get up at the end of a computer session - turn your machine off and pick up the tennis balls!
Now you might be wondering what that blue 's' shaped thing is. Well it's a TRIGGER POINT MASSAGER, a cunning and clever device to really get into those tight corners on your shoulders, back or hips. You control the pressure but it's a real life saver sometimes.
Water should always be on your desk, drink to keep the tissues hydrated.
and of course you have your hands to massage those tender areas you can reach
