any excercises for 'mouse shoulder'?

[nomasgordo]

i believe i have whats called "mouse shoulder". which i guess comes from too much computer work with a poor ergonomically setup workstation. im not exactly sure which muscle or muscles are sore cause its not something i can press on and feel, but if i tilt my head back and to the right a bit, i can feel the soreness.

anyone have this, and knows if there are any specific isolation machines at the gym, or whatever that can help, or has helped you, if youve had it?

[Stenn]

I haven't had mouse shoulder, but I did start on a good case of carpal tunnel syndrom in my right hand from mousing. My solution was to learn to use the mouse with my left hand while at work and with my right hand while at home. It realy wasn't that hard to get used to. But then, I can also use chopsticks with both hands...

There's probably tons of info on the Internet about mousing ergonomics. I've seen special mouse platforms and arm rests that are supposed to promote healthy mousing. I'm not sure what to do about your particular problem other than getting a massage. But, the long-range cure for your problem probably lies in good posture and ergonomics.

Good luck,
Steve

[dbx]

I don't know if I had the same thing you had, but I would get this ache in between my shoulder blades from sitting at a PC all day. I solved it by simply correcting my posture, which was kinda sitting up with shoulders back, and back slightly arched. It worked for me.

[nomasgordo]

this is kinda between the shoulder and the neck. here is something interesting i just found of the affect of different mouse positions on the deltoid muscle. maybe its the deltoid muscle thats hurting cause i usually have the mouse near the higest degree position they show, which shows the most deltoid activity of im looking at the emg graphs correclty

http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/AHProjects/EMGPaper1.pdf

[Stenn]

I think what they're getting at in that paper is that the further away from yourself you postion the mouse, the more mousing becomes like a single-armed front dumbbell raise. If I did single-armed front dumbbell raises all day long (even with just a few ounces), my shoulder would hurt too.

Probably the heavier the mouse, the more your shoulder's gonna hurt. For reference, my Microsoft cordless optical mouse (with two AA batteries) weights in at almost 5oz.

This reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon. It's a picture of Dilbert flexing his bicep. The caption reads, "Still pumped up from using the mouse!"

Take care,
Steve

[30-A rider]

I have a great stretch. Take note: Hypetonic trap musculature is typicall more influential in causing neck and upper back and shoulder pain more than any other muscle...Your traps begin at the upper back part of your neck, go out lateral to your shoulders, then taper in a V shape all the way down to your lower mid back (about T10). They are a lot larger than those 2 lumps between your neck and shoulders.

Stretch:

1- sit erect on a chair with no arm rests, and then place one hand under the chair seat and grasp.

2- Lean AWAY from the hand under the chair so much that if you let go you would fall off.

3- Rotate your head AWAY from the hand under the chair. Everyone should have approx 80 degrees rotation in thier neck so you should almost be looking over your shoulder.

4- Drop your chin/flex your neck downward, so that your chin should almost be resting on your shoulder.

5- Now with free hand bring your arm across your face ( should almost be looking at your anterior elbow joint and place your hand on the back of your head.

6- Now pull and hold for minimun of 30 seconds. ( Its takes approximately 30 secs for a muscle to transmit message to brain and back to muscle for a good stretch)

7- do this on each side 3x

NOTE: do these in order, not in one fluid motion as this is when mistakes are made. For example: people forget to rotate engouh and then all tension is taken off the traps and delivered on the to the scalenes which are very small muscles comparitively...or they dont place arm in front of face when pulling on back of head and as result pull thier head almost completely in flexion which again takes stretch off traps and focuses on paracervical and paravertenral muscles.

Maybe give it a try before during and after work for a few days and see what occurs. You may be a little sore from it for a few days, but no worrie son that. Even though it is your shoulder giving you problems this may help a whole lot. If notand maybe in addition you may want to look up on this site exercises internal and external rotator cuff exercises to prevent the pain from re occuring. good luck..lemme know how you like the stretch.

[BergMuscle]

I sometimes get a pain in the front of my shoulder when I've been "mousing" for a long time. Better posture seems to help. I'm working on maintaining better posture anyway (I look better and feel better), so it works for me.
Stretching is good, too. (Read everything posted above.)

[benjamin88]

I BELIVE THIS SHOULD BE A STICKY!

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459379

read parts 1,2,3,4,5 , if your serious about overcoming this problem, it worked for me

[nomasgordo]

you guys rock good stuff everyone thanks! i love the stretches 30rider. ben: i only see part1 and no link to the other parts?

[luppas]

Hi Guys,

i know this has been not posted on for a few months but I have this mouse shoulder quite severly and have spent over 2500 bucks on physio's, chiro's, bowen therapists, naturopaths, etc etc but everything that is being explained in the links above makes perfect sense and I have all these conditions. BUT I was just wondering if it was wise to do some of the upper body exercises they suggest due to my "mouse shoulder". I mean my upper trap has been extremely overused and I cannot do any movements with my right arm without feeling it all done with my trap and hardly any subscap or rotator cuff strength. I need to strengthen the sub scap and mostly the roator cuffs but every exercise I am told to do I can feel my traps and rhomboids taking over. ANy tips?

[luppas]

Bump for any people who have experienced this please

[Dermbet]

I have this and it gets so painful I can't lift anything

I was told by a physio to do lads of exercises (that hurt!) on the upper back muscles mainly.

Anyone else got any insight into it.

Feels sore and swollen after working out but it's not an injury as such. My right shoulder is slightly forward compared to the left and there's weakness in back muscles.

Anyone else had anything similar??

[zelloc]

I have mild tear in my backward side of shoulder, feels like a stream of pain flowing in that. Shown to physiotherapist, she gave some medicine to fill the spasm and it worked for only some days.
It hurts a lot in deadlift so I keep mostly supinated grip with right hand, sometimes pronated.
Exercise I found helpful was barbell plate raises for backward traps. Holding 5kg plate with both hands, hinging shoulder plates back and raising forward.
I sometimes do this exercise between my deadlift sets too.

[Kirkor]

Speaking of too much computer work, here's a sequence of movements that can help with postural issues:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTV6UCh-yhs

[OldFartTom]

I find myself doing it too. Rounded forward shoulders and neck. Used to be called "scholar's neck". The problem is made worse when you lean towards to peer at small text.
As well as the good advice above, try to...

* Get eye test regularly
* move monitor closer.
* Try to sleep with only 1 pillow. That comfy second one encourages you to sleep in that posture