[kvcrawford]

I started working as a programmer when I was 18...at 23, I had my first visit to physical therapy, for emacs pinky and elbow tendonitis.

At 25 I went back to physical therapy, this time for chronic pain in my upper back. Therapy unraveled a whole slew of postural and motor pattern issues, and I've been at it for nearly 2 years now. Additionally, for the past 1.5 years I added workouts with a personal trainer specialized in corrective work.

I've learned a ton. Sitting and using your hands with shoulders internally rotated (typing, writing, etc.) for the majority of your time (from 1st grade through adulthood as a desk worker) is so terrible for you. The good news is that it's possible to completely reverse and become pain-free. The bad news is that it might take a huge amount of effort—but personally, I really enjoy it.

Ergonomics are critical, as well. I have both a Kinesis Advantage keyboard and a motorized sit-stand desk. Moving around (not just sitting, not just standing) is the key.

For some time now I've been meaning to write up a detailed case study of myself; essentially a how-to on how to become and stay healthy as a desk worker. It's good to read that at least 1 person might be interested in such a thing :P

[melling]

Maybe you could bullet point the things you've found helpful in the HN comments? Hopefully, you'll write a blog but at least people could still learn from you, even if you don't get around to a blog. I'd like to know what you've done with a trainer, for instance.

[kvcrawford]

Heh, there's a lot to cover. First of all, just go to physical therapy if you have any pain. Even if you know the rehab exercises, doing them with perfect form will be very challenging.

* Muscles typically work in agonist/antagonist pairs. You bend your arm at the elbow, the bicep contracts, and the triceps lengthen. Straighten your arm and your triceps contract while your bicep lengthens.

* When 1 muscle in a pair is overly active, it will shorten and become tight while its antagonist muscle lengthens and becomes weak. This is imbalance. The weaker, lengthened muscle will often develop painful trigger points in protest. This is referred pain.

* To restore balance, you need to strengthen and learn to activate the lengthened muscle while relaxing (inhibiting) the tight muscle.

* Foam roll and stretch the tight muscles, strengthen the weak muscles

--

Upper crossed syndrome is common issue amongst desk workers. See http://www.muscleimbalancesyndromes.com/janda-syndromes/uppe...

For this you would

* Need to develop: scapular stability, scapular retraction, and scapular depression

* Need to inhibit: scapular elevation

* Maintain neutral chin tuck in pretty much all movements.

* ITYW exercises: when doing Ts, focus on squeezing at your mid traps (mid back), with neutral scapular elevation. During Ws, focus on scapular retraction and depression at the same time.

* Wall slides or wall angels

* Band pull-aparts

* Deadlifts

* Farmer carries

* External shoulder rotations

* Face pulls, finishing with external rotation at shoulder

* Rows

* Reverse flyes (palms down for posterior delts, thumbs pointing up for more mid trapezius and other back muscles)

Before doing a heavy lift (like rows), you might do an activation exercise beforehand (Ts and Ws) to focus on activating the muscles you want to work (mid and lower trapezius).

Similarly, if you want to workout your (tight) chest, you ought to do activation work for you back (ITYWs, wall angels) to ensure that your agonist/antagonist pairs "remember" each other and your chest doesn't tighten back up too much.

Hopefully that should give you plenty of material to google with. I'd love to go into further detail (there's plenty more to cover) but I mustn't spend too much time writing comments on HN :)