Tax-Prep Neck (Neck Pain, Part 3)

by Baxter

Yes, it’s that time of year in the USA. We reluctantly sit down at our desks to do our taxes. And if you are like me, once I get cooking, I tend to not want to stop until I get as much of this thankless job done as I can. So, two weekends ago, I got into this annual ritual once again. And about an hour into it, looking down at my checkbook registry, highlighting business expenses and creating lists of all kinds of things our friends at the IRS want to see on our forms, I began to notice stiffness and pain creeping into my neck, and sensed fatigue in my neck muscles. Despite my regular yoga practice, gym workouts and general mindfulness about my overall posture during most days, I was still having neck pain! What gives?!

As many of you have probably also noticed, when you do an activity like tax prep, or the first time you garden each spring, or unexpectedly have to get under the sink to try a little home-fix, your body can actually respond with pain, soreness, and stiffness, despite being in overall “good shape.” With me and my tax prep, I was suddenly asking my body to hold or assume a position beyond the time that my other activities might have prepared me for. So, it really should be no surprise that this might challenge my body. And my body appropriately sounded its early warning system, that is, pain. Fortunately, I decided to listen to the warning sign and got up and did some simple yoga poses for a few minutes until I sensed that my neck musculature, soft tissues and bones were releasing their tension and the pain subsided and disappeared, allowing me to return to my desk and continue on with my task at hand.

For those of you who sit at desks all day long, taking breaks like this can be challenging—you’re often in the groove and getting a lot done, and the mind might decide to ignore the body’s signal that it needs some attention. I see the results of this choice in both my regular evening classes and in my weekly Back Care class, when my students arrive complaining of the stiffness and pain in their necks, There are lots of causes of neck pain (see A (Literal) Pain in the Neck). And I have even given you some appropriate practices to address neck pain (see Neck Muscle Strain and Spasm).

But today's post is mostly concerned with stiffness and pain that is a result of neck muscle overuse and fatigue I want to address what to do in the home office or at work where you might not have much time to address the neck symptoms and/or can’t easily get down on the floor, but you want to do a brief practice in the moment. Some of the poses I will mention today can be found in greater detail in other posts, such at the Office practice and the chair practices, so search out the ones that sound most interesting to you to get more details on your choices.

Tax-Prep Neck Sequence

At first sign of neck pain or stiffness, stand next to your desk in Mountain Pose or maybe even go outside (I stepped just outside my front door and did my standing work in the sunshine—do it if you can!)

In Mountain pose, practice a Dynamic Arms Overhead sequence, inhaling both arms forward and overhead, then exhaling your arms forward and down to your sides, repeating for a minimum of 6 breaths. This practice addresses the tendency to round the upper back (into kyphosis) at your desk, and the fact that desk work never or rarely involves moving the arms overhead. And inhaling your arms overhead brings your spine into a gentle standing back bend, the opposite shape you spine usually in at your desk!

From Mountain pose, inhale your arms out to your sides and then up overhead. Then, exhale and side bend your chest, head and arms over a bit to the right, inhale back to center, exhale and side bend to the left, inhale back to center, and finally exhale your arms out to the side and down. Repeat this sequence a few times, alternating the starting side-bend direction every other round. Releasing tension in the rib cage area can have a direct benefit for the neck and head area.

From Mountain pose, inhale your arms forward and up, and, bending your knees a bit, exhale into an easy Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana), allowing your head to release with gravity. Then inhale as you bring your arms up overhead and exhale as you return to Mountain pose. Repeat five more times, and on the last time, stay in the forward bend for a few breaths, focusing on releasing your head and neck as fully into the pull of gravity as possible. In this pose, you are utilizing gravity to provide some passive traction for your neck muscles, fascia and bones to regain their full and relaxed length.

The rest of the sequence can be done standing or sitting. Do the neck movements described in Neck Muscle Strain and Spasm), which include the Owl turns and the Curious Dog Tips, moving in and out of those shapes with your breath.

If you feel tightness in the space between your shoulder blades in addition to neck symptoms, do Eagle pose arms (see Standing Shoulder Stretches), holding the position for 6-10 breaths while reminding yourself to relax the neck muscles at the same time. I find lots of practitioners are unaware of how tense they allow their neck to be in this pose without a gentle reminder otherwise.

Cow-Face Pose arms (see Standing Shoulder Stretches) is another great pose to release the shoulder girdle and tricep muscles, and influences the neck as well. I recommend holding for 6-10 breaths initially, but gradually working towards 90 seconds to create longer lasting changes to the muscle/fascial length of this area.

Finish with at least one minute of gentle breath awareness with the inner lift of the spine, the Prime directive, in place. You might add in the mantra on the exhalation of “I am taking good care of my neck” as a reminder of how you want the remainder of your work time to go.

You can do all of these poses if time permits, or choose just a few that seem to best address your unique circumstances. Also, I have gotten better and better at setting the timer on my smart phone at 30- to 60-minute intervals to remind me to get up and do my yoga sequences. And guess what? When I do this my neck doesn’t hurt. So you might try this timer approach.

I should mention the potential positive aspects of reviewing your year of income as you do your taxes: it’s an opportunity to acknowledge gratitude to all of the people you interacted with and worked with and worked for as you made your living the last year. For me, this helps foster my sense of community, which, as we have mentioned before, seems to be a key factor in lengthening the “health span” of a good, long life! 

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