Posture Tips – Mouse Shoulder
What on earth is mouse shoulder you ask? While this isn’t a well known term like ‘text neck’, mouse shoulder is a term that I have come up with to describe a very common complaint I see in office workers. Mouse shoulder describes the shoulder symptoms associated with the chronic repetitive movements in your dominant arm that you use your computer mouse with, hence ‘mouse shoulder’!
What is mouse shoulder?
When it comes to mouse shoulder, I often see people presenting with pain in the back of the shoulder blade, occasionally with pain referring down into the arm and forearm. They also typically have a bit of a tilt in the torso towards the side of their mouse hand and an anteriorly tilted shoulder on this same side. The pain and postural tilt basically come from the chronic movements they do day in and day out when using their mouses.
The pain comes from the irritation of the rotator cuff muscles due to constant small movements of the mouse. When the rotator cuff muscle become irritated you typically feel pain in the back of the shoulder which can send a referral into the front of the shoulder and down the arm. The postural tilt occurs when people have their mouses too far in front of their bodies and they have to tilt through their torso when doing computer work.
Solutions
If you have similar symptoms to what I have described making some ergonomic adjustments can be a big help. I suggest bringing your mouse back closer to your body rather than way out in front of you on your desk. Also changing sides with the mouse can also help. Try switching from right to left a couple of times a week. Stretching out your pec on the side of your mouse hand will also help to tension in your shoulder.
If your issues are persisting with these ergonomic changes it may be a good idea to get it looked at properly. If you require some treatment please don’t hesitate to contact my Brisbane CBD Chiropractic clinic for more information or to book an appointment (or even if you just want more posture tips!).
