Maybe you work in an office. You put in long hours and spend lots of time in your office chair. Or maybe you work from home, sometimes at your kitchen table and sometimes on the couch.

Perhaps you look forward to gaming all day, switch from your work setup to your gaming setup every night. Whichever category you fall into, it’s pretty likely that you’re doing a lot of sitting, and this could be affecting your overall health and causing you quite a lot of pain.

If you struggle with cervical spine pain, is your chair making it worse? In order to determine this, we must first define cervical spine pain and analyze potential causes.

What Is The Cervical Spine

The cervical spine (aka the neck region) is made up of muscles, nerves, joints, and bones. It bears the weight of your head and, if injured, can cause all kinds of pain, including chronic pain.

The cervical spine starts at the base of the skull and extends downward. The spinal cord runs through it without the added protection of your torso, making it a delicate part of your body. However, it’s also really flexible—think about how many directions you can move your head in, all thanks to your cervical spine! The cervical spine has seven vertebral segments, which form a natural curve that is pretty easy to disrupt.

Besides bearing the weight of your head, which is one of the cervical spine’s most important roles, it also allows blood to get up to your brain, which keeps you alive!

Issues with the cervical spine can irritate a nerve root or the spinal cord, resulting in long-term neck pain or neurological issues.

So, what causes neck pain? Well, there could be a few culprits that are causing you trouble.

Muscle strain is caused by a variety of problems. One of the main problems that cause muscle strain is slouching over a computer or phone in a chair, which we do all too frequently these days. While it may feel like the most comfortable position to sit in, slouching usually pushes your head and neck forward, disrupting the natural curvature of your cervical spine and putting you at risk for possible strain.

Muscle strain in the back can also be caused by something as simple as reading or working in bed. Sleeping with your neck in a non-neutral position can cause a muscle strain in your neck, as can working at a desk for too long without repositioning your neck every so often.

Even exercising the wrong way can cause you to strain the muscles of your neck. Something as simple as doing planks or doing a shoulder press the wrong way can really hurt your neck muscles.

This is more serious than a muscle strain, which can usually mend itself in a few days or weeks. Neck injuries can result from something as simple as exercising with incorrect form. Injuries can also be caused by car accidents or falling and breaking a bone related to the neck. Of course, it logically follows that an injury like this would lead to pain in the cervical spine and neck area.

Your neck joints, just like the rest of your body’s joints, deteriorate over time. The cartilage that provides cushioning between the vertebrae of your neck wears down as a result of osteoarthritis (degeneration of joint cartilage). Bone spurs may form as a result, obstructing joint mobility and creating discomfort.

Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about this cause of cervical spine pain besides paying attention to how it progresses and working to prevent making the degeneration worse.

Nerve compression occurs when underlying tissues, such as bones, cartilage, muscles, or tendons, apply significant pressure to your nerves. This alters the nerve’s activity and may cause irritation, tingling, numbness, or fatigue, as well as possible pain in the area.

If you notice numbness or reduced feeling in a body part supplied by the nerve, cutting, severe or burning pain, tingling, muscle fatigue in the region that is affected, this could be the culprit.

These days, most people are sitting for long periods of time. In fact, the average American sits for at least six and a half hours each day. That means that the chair we sit in, for better or for worse, is a way bigger part of our lives than most people account for. Worse still, most of the time, when we’re sitting for these long periods of time, we’re not moving around or stretching our muscles. Instead, we pick a position that feels good, and stick with it.

Unfortunately, this means that most of us treat our spines pretty badly. We tend to slouch in our chairs, curving the cervical spine forward and jutting out the neck. Over time, this places excess strain on the muscles and ligaments, which can lead to the problems discussed above. Sitting in the wrong kind of chair only serves to exacerbate these problems, because you become more inclined to slouch when the chair doesn’t give you the right kind of support.

If you struggle with cervical spine pain, one of the culprits could, in fact, be your chair.

In order to best support your health, you need a chair that provides you optimal support. The ideal chair has armrests and is at just the right height to keep your knees and elbows at a 90-degree angle. It’s also vital that you find a chair that cushions your back in all the right ways and promotes good posture.

The all33 BackStrong chair is designed for the most posturally ideal sitting experience. The chair cradles your lower back to prevent slouching, and the bucket seat allows for natural movement of the pelvis, so you don’t stiffen up from staying in one position for too long. These features combine to help with cervical spine pain, too, by helping to realign your neck so that it’s supported the way it’s meant to be.

Plus, this chair is adjustable, so you can make sure that you’re sitting in the absolute perfect position to support good posture. Its foldable arms also ensure that you can get closer to your desk if need be so you won’t have to strain your eyes to see your screen, either. We put careful thought into every single aspect of this chair, so you don’t even have to think about your posture—the BackStrong does the work for you.

Muscle strains, worn joints, nerve compression, and various injuries can all impact cervical spine pain, and if you’re not careful, the chair that you regularly sit in could be making it worse.

Is your chair contributing to your cervical spine pain? Most likely. If you’re looking for a solution, find out more about the BackStrong.

Sources:

• Neck Pain: Causes, Home Remedies, and Treatments | Healthline
• All About Neck Pain | Spine Health
• Acute Pain vs. Chronic Pain: When to See a Doctor About Your Pain | WebMD
• Low Back Pain, Adult Acute and Subacute | ICSI
• Acute and Subacute Pain Differences | Very Well Health
• Pinched nerve - Symptoms and causes | Mayo Clinic