3 things I look at when you tell me your neck is always tight

When you tell me your neck and shoulders are always tight, I’m not automatically assuming the problem starts in your neck.

I’m trying to figure out what your body does all day.

1. What do you do for work?

Your job tells me a lot about your dominant movement pattern… or your dominant non-movement pattern, because sitting in one position all day is still a pattern your body adapts to.

If you work at a desk, for example, I’m probably going to be thinking about more than your neck and shoulders.

I’m looking at your pelvis, your hips and your quads.

When you spend hours sitting, that whole pelvic bowl can get compressed and shortened. Then when you stand up, your body is basically trying to lengthen out of a position it’s been folded into all day.

I think of it almost like a pair of suspenders that are too tight.

Everything from below is pulling and creating tension higher up, and eventually your shoulders and neck are where you feel it.

But I’m also thinking about your hands and forearms.

If you’re typing, mousing, texting or gripping things all day, those tissues can create tension through the arms and shoulders too.

And I’m looking at the front of your chest… your pecs, the tissues around your sternum, and everything that’s been held forward for hours.

So yes, your neck hurts.

But your neck may just be the place that’s complaining the loudest.

2. What do you do outside of work?

Then I want to know what you do recreationally.

Do you lift weights?

Run?

Golf?

Play pickleball?

Knit?

Scroll your phone for three hours at night?

Drive a lot?

Your work gives me one pattern, but your hobbies might add another one.

Two people can both come in saying, “My neck is always tight,” and I might treat them completely differently because their bodies are being asked to do completely different things.

3. What has happened to your body before?

Then I want the history.

Car accidents.

Whiplash.

Falls.

Sports injuries.

Old shoulder injuries.

Anything that changed how your body moves or protects itself.

Because something that happened years ago can still influence the movement strategy your body uses today.

When you book a massage because your neck and shoulders are tight, I absolutely care about your neck and shoulders.

But I’m also looking for the roots underneath the symptom.

Your job.
Your movement patterns.
Your history.

Because sometimes the thing that hurts isn’t necessarily the thing that started the problem.

“If you tell me your neck is tight, your neck is only one part of the conversation.”

If you’ve been rubbing the same damn knot in your neck for months and it keeps coming back, it might be time to look at more than the knot.

Book in with me and let’s figure out what your body is actually doing!