WHAT ABOUT THIS?: Teaching Awareness of Shoulder Tension with Somatic Practices and EMG
Head, neck, shoulder, and back problems increase as people tend to do less physical movement and more static activities such as working at the computer, attending Zoom meetings, driving, or looking at their cell phones. This discomfort may be caused by chronic low-level muscle tension of which the person is unaware. This article describes simple somatic and electromyographic feedback techniques to allow the person to become aware of their covert muscle tension. With this awareness, the participant can begin to implement behavior changes to reduce symptoms. Provided are guidelines and suggestions on how to implement these practices and behavior changes.
(left) Bringing the head forward to see the screen. (right) Keeping the head aligned and erect. EMG shows the effect of head craning forward to see the screen results in neck and shoulder muscle tension and irregular breathing pattern. Reproduced by permission from Peper et al. (2020).
(left) Resting hands on the keyboard. (right) Relaxing the shoulders. EMG shows the effect of bringing the hands to the keyboard on shoulder and forearm tension. Reproduced by permission from Peper et al. (2020).
Abducted arms. (A) Walking with abducted arms to avoid hitting the object on the side of the waist. (B) Arms forward and abducting while playing video games.
Feeling the muscle contraction. (A) Standing relaxed with arms hanging down, (B) feeling the medial deltoid, and (C) moving the hand 1 or 2 inches away from the trunk while feeling the medial and posterior deltoid muscle activity.
Electrode placement on the medial and posterior deltoid.
EMG recording of arm abduction and imagining the initiation of arm abduction.
Holding static muscle tension. Adapted from Peper et al. (2020) and Peper (2020).
Contributor Notes