Today, I’d like to tackle 2 small topics – Neck/Shoulder Pain and Knee Clicking/Pain
Surprisingly, these 2 issues are typically related 🙂
Most of the time people suffer from both of these minor issues, as they tend to stem from one another. Neck and shoulder muscles can throw your entire body out of alinement, causing additional aches and pains to creep up over time.
As a mom I can relate to neck and shoulder pain, sometimes carrying my baby, or even breastfeeding can cause tension in my shoulders. Other leading causes of neck/shoulder pain are due poor office setup – if you’re computer screen is not lined up at eye-level or sitting hunched over will both throw your neck and shoulder muscles out of alinment over time.
As a trainer, a lot of my clients have complained about knee pain or knee popping. If you feel tightness in your neck and shoulders or have knee pain or knee popping, these simple and easy tricks will have you feeling pain-free and stress-free.
Neck & Shoulder Pain
Neck and shoulder pain is common amongst people sitting for long periods of time, hunched over at the computer or for driving long periods of time. Also, moms like me can have neck and shoulder pain from holding their babies and even breastfeeding. The best way to relieve the pain is by stretching, just as simple as that!
Knee Clicking & Knee Pain
Knee pain and knee clicking or popping can easily be relieved by maintaining proper form. Squats, for example, are incorporated into a majority of workouts and sometimes we forget to check our form because we are used to doing them so often. It is important to take the time and adjust your form, think form over speed. It’s not about how many reps you can get but how well you execute them.
Important Tips for Common Exercises
- Jumping Jacks
- Make sure your knees and feet are pointed outwards (to keep pressure from the inside of the knee)
- Stay light on your feet
- Squats/Lunges
- Drive hips back first, keeping your chest up
- Your toes should be lifted and your knees should not go past the the toes (keep the knees right over the middle of the foot or ankle)
Our bodies are constantly telling us when something is not working right. Clicking in your shoulders or knees, for instance, is a sign of muscle underdevelopment, faulty posture and/or misalignment. It is important to maintain proper alignment and posture. Sometimes our bodies can get used to the way you move and stand still creating a new normal, so once you exercise your bodies way of telling you to fix something or realign is by causing pain, strain or noises like popping and clicking.
**An important tip is, do not cross your legs, cross your angles if you must. Crossing your legs while sitting for long periods of time shifts your pelvic positioning, creating low back pain and hip pain.
Age-Proofing Your Muscles
As we age our muscle mass naturally dwindles as nature takes its course. This is a process, called Sarcopenia, begins as early as 20 and can ramp up to .4 lb loss in muscle each year by 50. The solution: exercise your muscles hard with an assortment of resistance training modalities. Consistency is key – the muscle building benefits of each workout ends after about 48 hours.
Keep challenging your muscles and they will repay you with ageless strength.
Don’t forget to incorporate these little stretches into your day to improve posture and relieve any pain you may be experiencing.
PS – Looking for A Structured Workout Plan to Follow?