I am sick and tired of my chronic neck and shoulder pain. I’ve had stiff, sore shoulders for as long as I can remember, but it has gotten steadily worse in the past year or so. Thanks to shoulder pain and carpal tunnel & ulna compression, I’ve mostly stopped fencing, cycling, and martial arts. Would you believe I am 32? I feel like a cripple. The best I can manage these days is a little yoga, some very light aikido, and plenty of walking.
Today was the last straw. Please don’t ask me about the details. Just imagine the worst possible time in the world an ordinary person can have a neck spasm. I have no doubt that someone will guess it right, though I’ll never tell.
I have three lines of attack so far: I replaced my pillow (again), called the neck/back specialist in the same practice as my hand doctor, and am going to revamp my workspace completely. This is where I need your help.
I spend most of my waking life hunched over books or writing at a computer. I take frequent breaks, stretch constantly, and change positions often. But I find it impossible to get comfortable at my desk, on my couch, at the kitchen table, in bed, anywhere. So I’m going to get a space age fucking easy chair. It needs to support my shoulders and neck like its life depends on it. It must also have some sort of tray with a lectern-style wedge big enough for at least two books and a notebook or my laptop. I want to be able to put whatever I am working on at eye level.
A massage motor or beer fridge underneath are dandy, but really, the chair just needs to survive years of use while still staying firm and comfortable.
Perhaps someone out there can recommend stores, brands, physical alignment issues I should know about, OSHA, whatever. It’s getting harder and harder to put in a full day’s work because of the pain, and in my life right now, that’s a bit of a problem.
