What activities can cause neck pain?

The body is designed to accept strain by dispersing it to adjacent structures. When one system does not properly accept strain, as in the case of a poorly functioning shoulder blade, strain is passed on to adjacent structures -- in this case, the levator scapula (one of the muscles that hold the shoulder in position) and the cervical vertebrae (the bones in the neck). The neck, often sensitive to adverse stresses and weakened from poor posture, is unable to counter these constant forces. The vertebrae move when they should be stabilized, and neck pain results.

Although these deficits can exist irrespective of profession, lifestyle, or age, there are a few behaviors that contribute to these functional problems. For instance, people who have been involved in extensive dance, yoga, or Pilates training or who have sedentary jobs that require long hours typing on computers often develop these issues. The reason dancers and yoga and Pilates practitioners develop these issues is that these disciplines strive for an aesthetic ideal of long, graceful necks. Although a long neck may look nice, it is not ideal for pain-free neck function. That is because to obtain the long neck, the shoulders must depress, which alters ideal shoulder mechanics and, therefore, neck function. Often it is taught that depressing the shoulders will strengthen the lower fibers of the trapezius muscle. This may activate those muscles but comes at the greater expense of overall shoulder function.