Many of us seem to carry tension in the shoulders as if the
whole world rests on our shoulders.
That’s right. We often feel
like it, with so many responsibilities, urgent tasks, and uncertainty for the
future. But, why in the shoulders?
It seems the main cause is mechanical – poor posture. Most of
us spend too much time sitting with the head forward or down and the hunched
back. Since we keep the same
position for a long time, the muscles in the upper back are stretched out while
the chest and abdominal muscles are short and tight. Both stretched-out and short muscles cause problems.
From the perspective of body-mind connection, muscle tension
and nervous tension are hand in hand.
Mental stress triggers the
muscle tension, and the muscle tension causes discomfort leading to
stress. It goes both ways and is a
vicious cycle. Some degree of
muscle tension or nervous tension is normal and even necessary. However, if it’s happening constantly
and becoming a habit, it will do more harm than good.
When we are anxious, worried, upset, or distressed, we
experience faster and shallower
breathing as well as other fight-and-flight responses. We sometimes hold our breath. Thus, the chest has to work rather than
the diaphragm, a large muscle below the lungs to control breathing (read more about the diaphragm in this post). To move the chest up, the muscles
attached between the neck and the ribs or shoulder blades have to do more work.
If the condition persists, the
shoulders stay tensed up.
A small step to reduce shoulder and neck tension is to catch
ourselves in the poor posture and under stress/anxiety. Do the exercise for upper body, and breathe slowly from your stomach (read
the next post about breathing exercises).
And, get a massage to relax! We deserve a break from carrying the
world.