Taking Care of Those Writing Muscles

I’ve seen so many articles on exercising your writing muscles by reading critically acclaimed books, books in your genre’, and doing writing exercises. They only talk about your mind.

I haven’t seen any of them tell you how to take care of your physical writing muscles. To me, it’s just as important.

I’ve been a Neuromuscular Massage Therapist for chronic pain for 26 years. I know how detrimental repetitive motions can be. Most of my clients over the years have come to me seeking help for persistent pain they’ve had for a long time.

When we sit down to write or type, we need to think about how we’re doing those things. If we do the same movements day after day, year after year, pain and dysfunction can happen throughout the body. That is how repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome happen.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• No matter where you’re sitting, if you’re going to be there a while, make sure you’re as far back as possible in your seat. You want to keep your low back from rounding or slouching to keep the pressure off your vertebrae.
• Keep your shoulders dropped. Most people keep their shoulders shrugged and their heads down when they work. That is terrible for your neck.
• Whether you’re typing or writing, keep your elbows close to your sides, not sticking out. that will prevent your neck and shoulder muscles from straining.
• When reading, think about an angled holder for your book so it’s propped up.
• Keep your head straight and just your eyes down when working. This can prevent neck pain and headaches.
• Get up and walk around, move your body every half hour, even if it’s just for a minute or two.
• Keep a fresh cup of water by your side. You’d be surprised how fast time goes by when you’re working. Keep sipping water to avoid dehydration. We can go without food, but we certainly can’t go without water.

These little things might not seem like much, but over time, these little things can become big problems.

• Take hot baths with a few cups of Epsom salts to ease tight muscles.
• Gently stretch your neck, shoulders, forearms, and hands before and after you write, type, or read.
• Set up a relaxing workspace. It’s tough to hold your body tightly when you’re working to relaxing music and candles or with simply nothing at all, just silence and the sound of your own thoughts.

All this advice to you is to help you take care of your body, so you’ll have a happy, long, pain-free writing career.

Happy Writing!

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