Everything hurts more when it is cold! Despite a relatively easy start to the winter the snow and ice arrived with vengeance this weekend. The country reacted in a predictable way, flights were cancelled, football matches postponed, roads closed….and don’t even think of traveling by train…..and osteopaths are inundated by patients who have neck pain. One might assume these people have hurt their necks by sliping on the ice, but more often it is because they have been struggling home through the cold with their shoulders hunched against a biting wind, which eventually causes their necks to ache.
A considerable part of my working day is spent encouraging you all to sit at your desks with correct posture, one aspect of which is to keep the shoulders down in a relaxed position, in order to relieve the strain on the neck and shoulder muscles. All this good work is going to waste if you spend hours struggling across the south London tundra with your shoulders hunched up to your ears!! If the shoulders are held up like this for long the strain soon starts to show, with muscle fatigue, irritated joints, or even damaged discs and nerves causing problems.
The moral of the story is ‘keep warm’. It’s not just about wearing a thick jacket…..a hat and scarf make a huge difference too, so much heat is lost through the head and neck. Shoulder hunching is a reaction excessive cold, and is often accompanied by shivering, and even teeth chattering (which may lead to jaw problems….but that's another story). Stay warm and it will be easier to keep those shoulders in the right place!
And don’t forget to wear good grippy shoes or boots too…..because those pavements are going to be icy! Roll in the summer….the days are getting longer….. slowly!