Most common Desk Injuries; and how SAANA Classic can help reduce pain and further injury

I’ve recently completed my 200hr Yoga Teacher Training Certification with SAANA Yoga Downtown Toronto, and this is the article I wrote as my final paper. For your information: SAANA Classic is a Hatha style sequence designed for all yoga levels. It is meant to help a practitioner build strength in their yoga practice and to avoid wrist injury or pain.

The most common Desk Injuries are:

1. Posterior cervical dorsal syndrome or “computer back” (c-curved spine, head too far forward)
2. Mouse shoulder, a common Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) caused by holding the arm outstretched for long periods of time.
3. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, arises primarily from compression of the median nerve as it passes through the wrist. It is the most common and most costly RSI
4. Tennis Elbow, or lateral epicondylitis is another type of RSI. It is a tendonitis affecting the common extensor tendon at the lateral (outside) area of the elbow. 
5. Lumbar sprains and strains
6. Disc injuries

1. Posterior Cervical Dorsal Syndrome

Is a very common injury in modern society where there is an excessive curving of the lower, middle, and upper back; a forward drawn head; rounded shoulders; and excessive forward curving of the cervical spine. It is a natural result of prolonged sitting work, especially with computers or high cellphone use. These postural defects can cause:

• headaches
• excessive muscle tension in your neck, chest, shoulders, arms and forearms, back, hips, glutes and thighs
• strains and sprains in your upper body
• joint dysfunction and sprains in your neck, back, and ribs
• increased loading on the intervertebral discs of your spine
• impaired function of your diaphragm, causing the muscles lifting your upper ribs and shoulders to become overactive and subject to problems

Mouse Shoulder

Mouse Shoulder comes from prolonged elevation and bracing of the shoulder to accommodate an inappropriately positioned mouse, or performing short range movements of the mouse, or both. Mouse shoulder can develop into a more serious rotator cuff injury.

Carpel Tunnel Syndrome

It is the most common nerve compression injury in the body and it is the costliest RSI. Typical symptoms include

• tingling and numbness in the thumb, index and middle fingers
• night pain
• weakness in grasping, thumb and index finger pinching, and other thumb movements
• clumsiness, such as awkward hand movements and dropping things

Tennis Elbow

Tennis elbow is a very common cause of elbow and forearm pain. It can cause mild to severe pain in the lateral elbow and may be aggravated by grasping and excessive finger motions. The pain may also radiate up the arm or down into the forearm.

Lumbar Sprains and Strains

Lumbar spine sprains (ligament or joint capsule tears) and strains (muscle or tendon tears) are common in office workers due to the high loads placed on the spine during sitting. Sprains and strains may cause back and hip pain as well as muscle swelling and tightness.

Disc Injuries

Increased loading on the spine due to prolonged and faulty sitting postures may cause sprains of the outer (annular) fibers of the intervertebral discs. In more advanced cases the nucleus of the disc may protrude into or even through the annular fibers of the disc, resulting in a herniated disc. Herniated discs may cause back pain, leg pain and altered sensation down to the foot, weakness, walking difficulties, or combination of these symptoms.

How SAANA Classic Can Help

Unfortunately, there is no ergonomic set up on Earth that will prevent injuries related to desk related work. The only way to avoid further pain and stress on the body is if you take a break every 20-30 minutes to get up move, and change positions. But how often do we do that? Stress, long hours doing repetitive movements, and general muscle fatigue, it is no surprise that desk related injuries are the most common and re-occurring injury. However, within SAANA Classic, there is plenty of opportunity to participate in postures, breathing exercises, and therapy techniques to balm the pain that comes from desk work and the stress associated with it.

1. The Breathing Exercises that are performed at the top and bottom of the SAANA Classic Sequence help to counteract the lack of deep belly breaths associated with desk work. Stress, long hours at the desk, poor posture, all contribute to us not being able to take full, long deep breaths. Instead, we only breathe into our upper chest, causing us to hyperventilate while we are in this stress cycle. Square breath and Villoma help to ground the body and train you to take longer deeper breaths into the belly. These breaths help us to expand into our chest, shoulders, ribcage and upper back. Allowing these muscles to relax so that we can process the emotions stored in our bodies from being in this stress cycle throughout the day.
2. SAANA Classic is designed with the health of the spine, hips, hamstrings and shoulders in mind. There aren’t many flows in SAANA Classic. This is to avoid wrist pain or any further injury associated with desk related afflictions. In fact, the first three sun salutations are modified. The majority of the exercises found in the sequence are there to stretch the muscles that become tight during desk work (glutes, chest, lower back, hips) and strengthen the muscles and joints that become weakened during prolonged sitting (abdominals, spine, shoulders, and glutes).
3. SAANA Classic offers an opportunity to discover Yoga as a type of movement therapy to add to your overall wellness practice to help alleviate pain and stress stored in the body within community. Movement therapy done within community has a lasting impact on your ability to recover from any stress related pain. SAANA Classic is accessible and allows for people a way into the Yoga community and personal healing.

Please be sure to get clearance from a healthcare practitioner before starting yoga and if you have any work-related injuries to inform the instructor before class so that they can modify their sequence accordingly.  

I can’t Squat Because….

Lately while teaching some of my Bootcamp classes I’ve heard the following excuse “I can’t squat because…” Now to make this very clear, I am asking the member to do a body weight squat with their hands clasped behind their head as part of their warm up. The most common excuse as to why someone cannot perform a squat is because of their knees… This is very frustrating for me, because these members tend to be very persistent of their inability to perform the exercise, and not to mention I’m teaching a large class. I don’t have much time to explain to them that they literally perform a body weight squat everyday, and I don’t want to single them out in front of the class either. So, I decided to write this blog post to inform you guys that just because you may have knee issues of any kind, this includes arthritis, it does not mean that you can never ever perform a squat. I mean if you can figure out how to poop standing up without a diaper, please give me a call! Because literally every time you sit and stand up you are doing the same exact movement as you would when performing a squat…

Almost everyone is born with the ability to do a full squat like this child. How many children have you seen sitting like this to play?! This is a proper squat, however without proper practice we loose the ability to perform our squats like this…

A squat is a natural movement, it is a functional exercise, and it is something that you do everyday. The problem however, does not necessarily lie with the exercise itself but with your inability to perform the exercise correctly. This is why many of you may feel pain in your knees when you go to sit and stand up. It is very unfortunate the amount of fear that surrounds the squat. It is fear, reduced range of motion, and excess girth that makes the squat difficult and uncomfortable to perform. Just because something is difficult, or uncomfortable, does not mean that you should completely cut it out of your exercise routines, especially when it is something that is so essential to your everyday life! Instead of trying to avoid this exercise at all costs, ask for help! Explain your pain, and your situation to someone who is a trained professional like a physiotherapist, an athletic therapist, or a well trained personal trainer. They can assess your movement pattern, and help you to improve your form and strength when performing a squat so you can either reduce or remove any sort of pain when you squat. Like I’ve said before, you do some sort of squat everyday, so why not learn how to do it properly? Because if you are experiencing pain when you squat, then there must be something wrong, and if there’s something wrong it should be corrected! If it is left unattended your pain will only increase, and your ability to sit and stand on your own will degrade over time. Do you really want to have to hold on to something like a cane so that you can be able to sit and stand?Probably not, but if you are in pain now when you squat, and therefore you refuse to squat, or even break past 90 degrees when squatting, then this will be your foreseeable future sooner rather than later.

The body is an amazing thing, and there have been so many accounts of people coming back from serious injuries and learning how to move again. So why is it that people think that just because they experience minor knee pain, they can no longer can bend their knees and perform a squat? To me it is illogical, and fearful. You can squat, even if it is assisted or with just body weight there is no reason why you cannot sit and stand back up. I have done a video tutorial on the squat in the past, actually it was the first video tutorial I’ve ever made. It is meant to teach you how to properly perform a squat and what a squat should look like. Watch the video, then record yourself performing a squat. Compare, and evaluate your squat. I have also provided some suggestions on how to improve your range of motion and strength so that you can further improve your form. https://alexrinaldo.wordpress.com/2015/10/15/squat-tutorial-video/  In addition, I have written another article related to the squat, it can also help to provide some insight as to why you are not performing the squat properly and therefore experiencing pain. https://alexrinaldo.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/want-to-feel-more-bootylicious-but-youre-not-seeing-the-results-here-are-some-reasons-why-you-might-not-be-getting-the-jlo-butt-youre-looking-for/

This post is not meant to be rude, judgemental or harsh. I just want to simply open your eyes to the fact that completely avoiding certain exercises like the squat will not help your situation. If anything it will only make your situation worse. As the saying goes “if you don’t use it, you loose it.” This is very true when it comes to your range of motion in the squat. If you never allow yourself to get full depth and range of motion in your squat, you will loose the ability to do so. This is why you must work on your flexibility, mobility, form and strength in your legs so that you never loose the ability to sit and stand. Even if you must start out with some sort of assist so that you can perform the exercise properly, so be it! If you continue to work on it, eventually you will be able to perform a squat completely on your own! Wouldn’t it feel so great to be able to move freely without pain? Well it takes patience and hard work, but it is possible! People do it all the time! You just have to be willing to work through the pain now, so you can be free of it later.