Working for more than eight hours a day has become the new normal for many employees in the country. Statistics say that 85.8 percent of men and 65.5 percent of women in America spend more than 40 hours per week on their work tasks. Sadly, health experts strongly associate these alarming statistics with the growing number of patients seeking NUCCA chiropractic care for upper neck pain.

But, how does your busy work become one of your leading sources of pain? Is there a way to continue working long hours without developing neck pain?

When a Job Begins To Take a Toll on Your Health

If you love keeping up with crazy news on Wallstreet, you might have already heard about the work hours complaint of junior bankers at Goldman Sachs. The employees have voiced out their concerns via Twitter, sharing that their 100-hour a week workload has been taking a toll on their physical and mental wellbeing. 

Understandably, many Americans relate to the plea of the junior Goldman Sachs employees. While not everyone is working 100 hours or more, many can certainly agree that they feel physically and mentally burnt out because of overworking.

Let’s take a deeper dive into the effects of overworking on your body and mind.

Why Overworking is Bad

To give you a better idea of the terrible things that overworking causes, here are some quick statistics and facts:

• The World Health Organization says that in 2016 around 745,000 people across the globe died due to workload-associated cardiovascular conditions.  
• Working long hours can impact your ability to communicate well and complete tasks.
• People who spend long hours at work tend to have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular problems like heart attack and stroke.
• Spending a long time standing or sitting makes you prone to developing bad posture and experiencing upper neck pain and back pain.
• Working late in the day can impact sleep quality and cause you to feel increasingly grumpy, anxious, and irritated. 
• Impaired sleep reduces your tolerance to pain, causing you to feel worse bouts of muscle spasms until you finally get enough rest. 

How to Offset Your Busy Workload to Maintain a Healthy Body

If you’re guilty of not having a work-life balance, we strongly recommend reassessing your approach to managing your time and workload. First, try reaching out to your superiors and communicate about your current work situation. 

You might also find it helpful to re-evaluate your work priorities and incorporate fun activities like quick neck stretching exercises between your work shift.

If you can’t do anything about your work situation, invest in an ergonomic desk or chair to provide you with excellent neck and back support. Also, don’t forget to indulge in health-boosting snacks and avoid energy drinks or other caffeinated beverages.

Other Causes of Neck Pain

While it’s not life-threatening, it does cause suffering to many people. Apart from busy and time-consuming work, neck pain often arises from a long list of other things, including:

• Muscle strain – Had a long day that involved a lot of tasks like carrying a heavy load? If you did, you could expect mild to severe neck and back pain the next day. You can try applying a soothing menthol cream or ointment to ease your achy muscles.
• Compressed nerves – Bone spurs, herniated discs, or misaligned bones can compress or pinch nerves. When this happens, you experience a searing or sharp pain in the affected area. Thankfully, you can gradually reduce the pain from a pinched or compressed nerve root with remedies like NUCCA chiropractic care.
• Concussion – Many patients report neck pain during and after a concussion. If you recently had this type of injury, we suggest resting (both physically and mentally) for a day or two to help your body recover. 
• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) – As an autoimmune disorder, RA causes inflammation on various parts of the body, such as your neck joints. When this happens, you experience a limited range of movements on your head, neck, and shoulders. You can manage pain using therapy or pain medication.   

Hopefully, you can better manage your symptoms by knowing the potential triggers of chronic or recurring neck pain. 

Also, if you have any of the health conditions enumerated above, we recommend being extra mindful of your work hours or workload. By doing so, you can decrease your likelihood of developing chronic aches in the neck.  

Say Goodbye to Upper Neck Pain with NUCCA Chiropractic Care

Neck pain is one of the most notorious health issues that affect people around the country. It has been a problem for employees even before the pandemic hit. Unfortunately, the recent events have also caused a massive spike in neck pain sufferers. Notably, thousands to millions of American workers find it challenging to transition from digital or hybrid work arrangements. 

If you’re among neck pain sufferers in the country, you might find great relief with NUCCA chiropractic. It’s an upper cervical chiropractic technique that uses gentle, accurate, and precise adjustments to fix the alignment of the neck bones. 

When you have misaligned bones due to poor sitting posture, previous injuries, pre-existing spinal conditions, or other factors, your brainstem and neck joints and muscles suffer. It could lead to recurring pain that doesn’t go away even after getting a massage, rubbing menthol cream, or taking pain medication. 

Find out if your upper neck pain stems from neck bone misalignments with the help of an upper cervical doctor near you!

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