Hi - I am experiencing pain on my right side in my neck and shoulder accompanied by some slight numbness in my arm near my elbow. I use a thumbpad mouse on my keyboard so my arm is down and closer to my body than with a traditional mouse. I am pretty much in front of a computer all day for my job. I ve switched to using a left hand mouse but wondered if you could offer any suggestions for exercises or ergonomics i might try to alleviate this pain. thanks
neck and shoulder pain from using thumbpad mouse
September 6, 2011 - 7:52am | 2 posts
#1
neck and shoulder pain from using thumbpad mouse
3 years 10 months ago
11/02/2010 - 7:05am
One of the first things you can focus on is opening up the pathway where the blood vessels and nerves flow to the arms and hands. That path is right under our pectoral muscles at the shoulder level. It's such a major pathway that it has it's own name; the brachial plexus. If your shoulders come forward, or you tend to hunch forward, as most people in our society do, then you are shutting off some of that blood flow, which can cause problems in the arms and hands.
Do you have the book? There is a section in Chapter 1 on the importance of rolling our shoulders back so we open our chests and allow the blood and nerves to flow freely to the arms and hands. It will guide you throught the shoulder roll and elongating the back of your neck. It's important to roll each shoulder, one at a time. You do not want to just pull your shoulders back, as that will cause tension in the rhomboids or the lower back.
Rolling your shoulders back will create a shorter span for reaching out with your arms, so you will need to bring your keyboard closer to your body. In fact, you will need to bring all your tasks closer to your body so you are not reaching out to do your work.
Once you learn the shoulder roll, roll the shoulders back throughout the day, when you become aware that you may be hunching forward.
Thanks for a great question!