Psychological stress can cause pain in the neck and shoulders, especially for office workers who often work with computers. The pain will radiate down the shoulder blade, making the arms, forearms, and fingers numb. When the pain is too much, walking gently is enough to affect, causing pain in the neck, shoulder, and nape.
Why do psychological stress cause neck and shoulder pain?
✅ When stressed, the first organ affected is the brain; at this time, the central nerves will become less flexible, the brain’s ability to control is impaired so that which will cause depression. Slowing down the blood circulation to the neck, shoulders, back, and all other organs in the body. Once the muscles and ligaments in the neck and shoulder area are deprived of blood, they are easily degraded, their activity is slowed down, easy to cause inflammation and neck pain. (1)
✅ Stress causes the body to produce more of the hormone cortisol. Elevated cortisol causes the body’s antioxidant enzymes to work less effectively, thereby causing a free radical imbalance. This leads to a weakened immune system, increasing the risk of infection in the body. (2) (3)
✅ When suffering from prolonged stress, sufferers often find the body tired, moody, depressed, do not want to do anything, incredibly very lazy to exercise, often sitting in one place or lying in one place… affecting blood circulation, and at the same time, creating pressure on parts of the body, especially bones and joints, is one of the reasons why patients are prone to pain and numbness in the neck and shoulders.
Thus, to reduce neck and shoulder pain, Drinkizz team will introduce to you exercises to stretch muscles on both sides of the neck. This exercise helps to stretch the muscles and soft tissue structures on the sides of your neck, helping to strengthen the muscle groups in the neck and shoulder area. As a result, it helps to reduce pain and fatigue in the neck and shoulder area.
When the pain is gradually reduced, you will feel more comfortable; at this time, more antioxidant enzymes will be produced, thereby helping to balance the free radicals, making you healthier!
Let’s do it together!
✅ First, sit up straight and relax your neck muscles.
✅ Next, tilt your head to the left, moving your head slowly towards your left shoulder.
✅ Hold the pose for 10 seconds and repeat 5 times.
✅ Then switch sides.
Remember to always relax, breathe evenly and exercise according to your body’s tolerance level!
Hope you soon relieve stress and say goodbye to pain with this simple exercise!
Source:
(1) https://www.ivyrehab.com/news/can-stress-cause-shoulder-pain/
(2) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10253890802234168
(3) https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0020795