self help for backs due to posture/ screen time

[Missbopeep]

can anyone help?

I have terrible knots in my upper back due to working on a pc all day long. Sometimes the muscles go into spasm ( rarely but agony when it happens.) I don't want to shell out £40 for a massage if i can help it- so anything I can do to relieve tension between shoulder blades?

I feel your pain!

I sometimes find lying down on a tennis ball, or an orange, or a walnut (depending on knots) and wriggling around helps undo knots a bit.

By the time I go into spasm, nothing helps except paracetamol and codeine - which I presume relaxes the muscles a bit - and staying away from the pc. Not easy if you work at it.

Do you have a good chair? Mind you, I do, and I still have problems.

I do have a chair yes.

I have actually booked a massage now- it does help but only for a few weeks.

I had a spasm at the weekend and thought I was having a heart attack- horrible tight pain round back and shoulders and up into shoulders and jaw.

Triggered by moving awkwardly to one side.

I have to be at pc to earn my keep- but staying of MN more might help too!

Alexander Technique is excellent - google constructive rest .

www.imogenragone.com/OldWebsite/self.html

Ideally have a few lessons to teach you how to do it .

thanks- have had a look.

Are you self employed or do you work for a business? If you work for a business, they are supposed to carry out a display screen equipment assessment.
This will look at your chair, to ensure it is correctly adjusted, your desk layout and posture. Often it will be a paper screen, but if you are suffering, a specialist assessor (like me!) should be brought in to carry out a more detailed assessment.
If everything is correctly set up and you are taking regular breaks, you really shouldn't be getting that sort of pain.