Shoulder Pain from Computer Work

Why Your Shoulders Hate Your Desk

When you're focused on a screen, your shoulders creep up toward your ears. Your arms reach forward. Your upper back rounds. This position compresses the muscles and joints in your shoulder complex.

Hours of this creates what physical therapists call "upper crossed syndrome" — tight chest and neck muscles, weak upper back muscles. The result is chronic shoulder pain that painkillers can't fix.

Common Causes

• Mouse reaching — Extending your arm to use a mouse strains the shoulder
• Keyboard position — Typing with shoulders elevated causes tension
• Monitor placement — Looking up or down affects shoulder position
• Stress holding — We unconsciously tense shoulders when stressed
• Static posture — Not moving for hours lets muscles tighten
• Carrying bags — Laptop bags add strain to already tight shoulders

How Breaks Help

Regular breaks give your shoulders what they need: movement. Every 25 minutes, you can:

• Roll your shoulders backward 10 times
• Squeeze your shoulder blades together
• Stretch your chest in a doorway
• Let your arms hang and swing
• Consciously drop your shoulders away from your ears

These micro-movements prevent the accumulation of tension that causes chronic pain.

Break Exercises for Shoulders

• Shoulder shrugs — Raise shoulders to ears, hold 3 seconds, release
• Arm circles — Large circles forward and backward
• Wall angels — Press back and arms against wall, slide up and down
• Cross-body stretch — Pull one arm across chest, hold 20 seconds
• Thread the needle — On hands and knees, reach one arm under body