Stress has a way of changing your posture. As stress begins to tighten your body, shoulders begin to roll forward, the chin lifts and the neck moves forward. This happens to all of us as the everyday pressures of life closes in around us. In the world of psychology the term for this posture is armoring.

Think about sitting at a typing station. You are not sitting erect, but leaning slightly forward. The elbows are not hanging by the side but are just forward of your body. As the fingers dance across the keyboard you not only have to hold the forearms up, but you have to hold the elbows forward. This puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the muscles of your upper and lower back.

There are two muscles that are punished the most by stress. We call these muscles the stress muscles. However, their medical name is Levator Scapula. These two muscles connect at the upper bones of the neck, called the Cervical Vertebrae, and connect to the shoulder blade, known as the Scapula.

When we are stressed our shoulders lift putting pressure on our neck. This pressure creates headaches and neck and shoulder pain. The final result of this posturing is pressure on the Medial Nerve. This eventually becomes Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

This condition is easily addressed by self massage. Three or four sessions usually alleviate this stress. The best massagers to use in addition to your hands are those of a caring partner.

As the shoulders lift, the vertebrae of the spine are pulled close together, which puts pressure on the disk between the vertebrae. As the disk is crushed by this pressure it widens and puts pressure on the nerves that exit the Central Nervous System. As the nerves are impinged, everything in the body begins to shut down and we have a lower level of energy. Life becomes harder.

From our point of view, stress is the fundamental cause of most illnesses. The Ancient Chinese said  “disease is caused by congestion and wellness is the result of circulation”. This was written six thousand years ago and it seems they were correct.

For those of you who have never experienced the benefits of using a Chi Health Device or one of the many available massagers, perhaps now is the time to give one a try. All you have to lose is stress, discomfort and pain.