Could your glasses be causing neck pain?
Possibly, but there are easy ways to help.
If you are wearing the wrong glasses your head and neck will adjust so you can see more clearly. The most common action is to tilt your head back so you are looking through the lower part of your lenses. This shortens the muscles at the back of the neck causing pain and tightness. If the head is out of alignment even by a couple of degrees, the extra weight on your neck increases significantly. You head ways 4.5kg to 5 kg, thats actually quite a lot for your neck to hold up.
There are a few factors you may like to check if you get neck pain or tight neck muscles.
1. How long is it since you’ve had your eyes checked by your local optometrist.
By the age of 45 most people need reading glasses. You may find you need to hold items to read further way, this is a definite sign.
2. Did you just buy some magnifiers from the Chemist when your arms got too short?
Even though the magnifiers can work really well, it’s still a good idea to get your eyes checked professionally, its important to find a script which works well for you. One eye might have a different vision to the other. A good optometrist doesn’t just check if you need glasses, they also check your eye health as some serious conditions can be found early using their special equipment.
3. You already wear glasses or contact lenses for distance, but have trouble focusing on writing or objects close up.
This is especially the case at around the age of 45, and this is where you would possibly need assistance for close up work with either multifocal, bifocal, trifocal or progressive lenses. The options are best discussed in detail with your optometrist, as listed below. Even with contact lenses, you can get multifocal lenses.
This next point is particularly critical with neck pain.
Do you have the right lenses for your work, hobbies and pass times?
You might be a keen gardener and on a sunny day will be wearing your prescription sunglasses. These may be designed for driving where the focal point is for the road and the car’s instruments. If you are weeding or pruning, you may be looking much more downwards. Even without being aware the head and the rest of your body will adjust so you can see much more clearly. All this can put more strain on your neck and upper back.
If you play a musical instrument, and need to read sheet music, do your glasses work for this. You may not be aware, but your head may be tilting to adjust. If insure, get someone to photograph you while playing so you can check your alignment of your head.
If your work involves using a computer and you have the wrong glasses, you may be tilting your head back to try and find the right place to focus through your glasses, same the image above. Alternately you may be bring your head closer to the screen. This can definitely cause pain especially if you use a computer for many hours a day. A large computer screen or multiple screens may require your glasses to be one prescription giving you the largest area to focus through and used for the computer.
Other ways to help prevent neck pain especially is using computers for many hours a day.
Be aware of your seated alignment, are your slumped forward? Ideally you should be sitting upright with your feet flat on the ground.
Is your head getting closer to the screen? Your head should be stacked right on top of your neck.
Try to do a body check every now and to check your alignment.
Take regular breaks, every 20 minutes put your arms down and look at something in the distance for at least 20 seconds.
At the same time stretch your arms back.
Even better get up to walk around for a minute or so.
Your whole body will appreciate these simple tips, not just your neck.