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Fit and fine: What’s causing that annoying upper back ache (Part II)
A look at how Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI), affects the upper back
Prateek, a young IT executive, came to see me the other day with the complaint of extreme mid back stiffness and pain under his right shoulder blade. He was so stiff that he could barely turn left or right while sitting at his office desk. Since he was a software guy, he spends 10 to 12 hours a day, hunched over his desktop. And, to make matters worse he plays computer games late into the night.
The point is, this extremely sedentary lifestyle is a sure shot recipe for Repetitive Strain Injuries aside from aggravating metabolic diseases in youngsters. But that’s a topic for another time!
Cause and effect
The upper back bears the brunt when we further abuse our sedentary lifestyle. Since we spend most of our time doing stuff like working on computers or driving a car, we never really engage the mid-back muscles.
In fact, we seem to prefer to slouch, rather than sit or stand tall. Over time the mid back muscles become weak and stiff. This can get exacerbated by the chest muscles becoming tight from overuse, as we spend most of our day moving our arms in front of the body. This causes the chest muscles to be used over and over again in a restricted range of motion.
Let’s delve slightly deeper and look at the anatomy of the spinal column or the back bone. If you notice the bones or the vertebrae of the upper back seem to be pretty thin in comparison to the vertebrae in the lower back. This is to allow us to turn our upper bodies left or right. In fact, the backbone is supposed to be the most flexible in upper back or the thoracic region. It would take a lot of doing to make this region stiff, but we seem to be achieving that admirably these days! (insert image of back bone)
The cure – stretch and strengthen
•Get moving: Every half an hour, get up from your desk and take a walk. Even 10 steps will do. Remember you are not a tree! So move.
•Stretch your chest: Stand in a doorway, put both your arms on the doorway and push your body forward without moving your feet.
•Chair stretch: Sit on your chair and lean back over the back of the chair. Please make sure you don’t topple over!!
•Strengthen your mid back: Stand in a corner, elbows level with your shoulders, now push the elbows forcefully into the wall. Try and pinch your shoulder blades together. Hold for a count of 10. Do this three to four times in a day. (insert image of corner push)
In the next column, we shall focus on the shoulder, till then work on your upper back and stand tall.
Kamal Singh CSCS is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with a coaching experience of 15 years. He specialises in post rehabilitation training and has worked with some of the biggest names in the corporate and sports world. Kamal was picked by Men’s Health magazine as one of India’s Top personal trainers.
This is a fortnightly column. The next edition will appear on September 23.
From HT Brunch, September 23 , 2018
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