The anatomy of the shoulders is very complex. There are several joints that connect the tendons and muscles that allow you to move your arms. There are a lot of factors that contribute to shoulder pain at work, including sitting at your desk for a long time, using a computer mouse, typing on a keyboard, and awkward postures while working.
This complexity is a big reason why people suffer from shoulder pain. It’s complicated and people don’t know where to start.
Today, I’m going to share my most basic, actionable, good posture habits to avoid shoulder pain at work.
How to Relieve Shoulder Pain from Sitting at Desk
Nothing on my website is professional medical advice. It’s for educational purposes only. I share my personal experience, what has worked for me, and what hasn’t. I talk about the poor posture mistakes I’ve fixed and the good posture habits I’ve learned.
You are your primary caretaker. Not your doctor, surgeon, coach, or physical therapist. They all play a role. But, they also have their own agenda and their own motivation that’s not always in our best interest, regardless if it’s intentional or not. Do your research and make good decisions. Be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare and prevent shoulder pain as much as possible.
Make sure the elbow is never below desk level
This is probably the most important variable I practice to avoid shoulder pain at work. When our elbow is below the desk, we have to engage our bicep muscles in order to lift our hands and arms onto the keyboard and mouse. Even though this is only a very slight bicep contraction, it can cause a lot of neck and shoulder pain when it’s held for 8 hours a day. I like to keep my elbows at slightly more than a 90-degree angle. This will engage my tricep muscles more and take some of the burden off my biceps.
Each bicep has a tendon that connects to a bone in the front shoulder area. I usually feel pain in a joint or a tendon. I rarely feel pain in the muscle. However, that doesn’t mean the muscle isn’t the cause of the pain. When we overuse our biceps, it can handle it without giving me pain at work. But, it’s overextending the tendons connected to the shoulder. This is where I’m more likely to notice the pain. That said, keeping my elbow at slightly more than a 90-degree angle is my favorite way to prevent shoulder pain at work.
Avoid internal shoulder rotation
As we place our hands and arms on a keyboard and mouse, we naturally tend to rotate our shoulders internally. Internal shoulder rotation can be a good thing when throwing a ball, lifting weights, even pushing a door open. However, keeping my shoulders internally rotated for 8 hours a day is a very bad thing. It used to cause me a lot of pain at work. Learning how to avoid internal shoulder rotation is a key way to prevent shoulder pain.
Keep your mouse and keyboard within comfortable reach
I used to keep my mouse and keyboard far from the edge of my desk. This would cause me to overextend my hands and arms in order to use them. This would cause pain on the back of both of my shoulders. I would start off the day with my keyboard and mouse at the edge of my desk. As the day went on, the stress of my day built up. Even though it was an incorrect position, it felt natural for me to extend my hands and arms forward. I would subconsciously move the keyboard and mouse forward as the day progressed. By the time it was lunch break, my keyboard and mouse would end up almost underneath my monitor. This would cause both neck and shoulder pain for me. One way to reduce the tendency to lean forward is to raise computer screens from being too low.
Place the top of computer screens at eye level
This has been the most helpful good posture tip I’ve learned overall. Sitting at your desk with the top of your monitor at eye level has many benefits, especially to avoid shoulder pain. When my monitor used to be too low, I would naturally slouch forward. This would cause me to compress the muscles on the front of my torso, while overextending the muscles on the back of my torso. When the muscles in my chest tightened and shortened, it would cause a chain reaction that would lead to neck and shoulder pain. Once I started keeping my computer screens at eye level, it greatly reduced my tendency to slouch forward. This has helped me avoid shoulder pain ever since.
Take regular breaks and walks
We can’t just sit in office chairs and stare at computer screens for 8 hours a day and not feel the consequences. Even if we sit all day with good posture, we can still accumulate repetitive strain injuries. Taking regular breaks and walks is a critical variable when it comes to good posture at a computer. We wouldn’t hold a bicep curl for 8 hours a day, so why would we hold a mouse for 8 hours a day. Regardless of what position I’m working in, I make it a point to walk away from my workstation every 15 to 30 minutes. It may not be a long break. I might just take a quick walk around the office, grab some water, then head back to my desk.
A painful mistake I used to make was to work through my lunch break and eat lunch at my desk. Working 4 hours in the morning, plus 4 hours in the afternoon isn’t the worst thing when you take an hour lunch break in between to get out of the office, move your body, and clear your head. However, working in the same position for 9 hours a day straight, with no lunch break, can exponentially increase risk of injury and bad posture.
Work in multiple positions throughout the day
My final key variable to avoid shoulder pain is to work in multiple positions throughout the day. I try not to use the same position for more than 30 minutes at a time. Sometimes, I sit in office chairs. I’ll also work at standing desks. Once I start to feel stiff from standing, I’ll sit on a stool. Finally, I’ll work in a reclined position. It’s a good way for me to relax physically and put that energy towards my mental productivity.
I always make sure my back is fully supported though. I make sure to keep those natural curves of my spine in place. Also, I usually don’t work in a reclined position for more than 30 minutes a day. This is because I’m working from a laptop and I can’t use my external monitor while in a reclined position. I’m looking down at my laptop screen at more of an angle than usual. I want to keep that to a minimum.
Regardless of the position we are working in, I always make sure to keep these next 3 variables in place.
- My eye level is at the top of my computer screens (except when reclined).
- My elbows are slightly greater than a 90-degree angle. I do this to make sure that my elbow is never below the desk, which would cause me to overuse my biceps in order to put my hands and arms on the desk, a keyboard, and a mouse. Overusing my biceps would cause inflammation in my tendons connecting my biceps to my shoulder.
- Finally, I make sure I have my feet flat on the floor. I know this may not sound shoulder related, but everything in our bodies is connected. It doesn’t matter if it’s muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, or fascia. One slight, incorrect position in one body part can cause a chain reaction in other areas of the body. These habits have successfully helped me prevent shoulder pain at work.
How to Heal Shoulder Pain
I didn’t heal my shoulder pain by popping painkillers or anti-inflammatory drugs. Here are the ways the helped me the most.
I reversed my excessive internal shoulder rotation
I sat at a computer with poor posture for 9 years (8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 2000 hours a year). This led to a very poor range of motion in my shoulders.
Before I could strengthen or stretch my shoulders, I needed to correct what I was doing wrong ergonomically at my desk. So, I fixed my elbow level.
I fixed my elbow level at my computer
I used to sit with my elbow level too low. It caused me to overuse my biceps to lift my hands up onto the keyboard and mouse. This led to shoulder tendonitis.
To correct this, I raised my chair until my elbow height was slightly above my keyboard and mouse. This allowed me to decrease the tension on my biceps, which gave some relief to my shoulder tendons.
To learn more, check out the article I wrote titled Elbows, Hips, and Knees: The “3 Joint Rule” I Use for Correct Sitting Posture.
How to Stretch the Shoulder Muscles
Yoga cactus pose (while laying flat on the floor)
Cactus pose is very popular in yoga. It’s usually done while standing up, with arms at 90 degree angles (like a cactus).
I do a modified version of it. It’s the same pose, except I do it laying flat on the floor. It’s a light-intensity, long-duration hold. Which in my opinion, is the best way to counter balance slouching forward at a computer (for 8 hours a day).
I hold this cactus stretch for long durations. Up to 5 minutes at a time.
I started off just doing 1 minute. But the longer I’m in this position, the more it releases my excessive internal shoulder rotation (caused by holding a keyboard and mouse). It’s the best stretch I’ve found for relieving that shoulder overuse.
I always focus on my breathing while doing this pose. I make sure to breathe slower and deeper. In and out through my nose. That’s just my personal preference, because I’m a recovering mouth breather. And doing nasal-only breath work helps me relax my jaw and face muscles more.
As I breathe, I let gravity pull my arms and shoulders down. Allowing them to “melt” into the floor, more and more as the minutes go by.
This also helps my spine pull back into its neutral position. Because when I’d slouch forward at a computer, my vertebrae would turn forward slightly. Even when I left my computer for the day, my spine would still be pulled into that compromised position by my muscle tension.
Yoga stick
This is not paid promotion. This yoga stick is an inexpensive product I bought off Amazon. It’s helped me reverse my computer posture tension, including stretching my shoulders.
In the below image, I’m doing a stretch with a yoga stick.
I do this stretch with my yoga stick for usually 30 to 60 seconds. It’s great for my upper body (especially my upper back and shoulders). It counter balances the tension I have from slouching forward at my computer.
I make sure to focus on my breathing during all stretches. But especially this one. Because it’s a stretch I’ve never felt before.
I want to increase the amount of air going into my lungs, as well as the amount of time that air spends in my lungs. Ironically, this means taking less number of breaths, by breathing slower and deeper than normal.
How the Steel Mace 360 Fixes Computer Posture
If I could only do 1 strength exercise for the rest of my life, it would be the “steel mace 360.”
A steel mace is shaped like a kettlebell, except it doesn’t have the same handle. Instead, the weight is at the end of a barbell-style rod. A steel mace is also commonly referred to as a macebell.
Regardless how conscious I am of my computer posture, I still tend to slouch forward sometimes.
The steel mace 360 exercise helps release my tension from slouching. Because you would raise your arms as the weight travels behind you.
It opens up my front lines, stretching my compressed chest (which was caused by slouching forward and holding a keyboard and mouse for long periods).
This exercise also activates my back muscles, in the exact opposite way that slouching forward does.
It’s the perfect combination of a “strength + stretching” exercise, for me and my athletic, sedentary lifestyle.
Here’s a video of me doing the steel mace 360.This is what the steel mace 360 looks like. It’s the 1 strengthening exercise I would do, if I had to choose 1 for the rest of my life.
The first steel mace I bought was 10 pounds. I could do the 360 with it at first, but the movements were very slow. So I dropped down and bought a 7 pound steel mace. I was able to learn the movement a lot better with that. As the movements got quicker, I moved back up to the 10 pound steel mace. That’s the weight I use the most these days. I also have a 15 pound steel mace. But that’s pretty heavy. I’ll use it occasionally for low reps, just to switch things up.
Thanks for your interest in sitting posture. If you’ve read this far, congratulations! You’re taking valuable steps to improve your good posture, while reducing your pain at work.
If this article was helpful, check out my book titled “45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture.” It’s available in both digital and paperback versions.
>>> Click here to pick up your copy
This book explains how to improve your posture through different variables of health and wellness. These include sitting posture, standing posture, sleep, hydration, and breathing. Poor posture is not just how we sit at a computer. The health habits we practice, 24 hours a day, are directly related to how good (or bad) our computer posture is.
Go to SittingPosture.com/book to learn more.
Take care,
Todd Bowen
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Thanks for your interest in computer posture.
Todd Bowen – Computer Posture Correction and Pain-Free Ergonomics: For Office Workers Who Want to Fix Their Sitting Pain
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🙏 Thank you for supporting my work. -Todd