“Computer Sickness” (PC Sickness, Desk-Work Syndrome) is a new modern-day condition that arises from the strain that computer work places on the “muscles, eyes, and nervous/mental system.”
In addition, with the spread of smartphones, the symptoms of “smartphone neck / stiff neck” are becoming increasingly serious.
Computer sickness and smartphone neck are symptoms caused by muscle tension, tongue tension, and shallow breathing.
If left untreated, they can lead to conditions such as migraines, numbness in the hands, frozen shoulder, dizziness, panic disorder/depression, and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Prolonged use of computers and smartphones causes stiffness that spreads from the fingers to the arms, shoulders, neck, back, and lower back. People who spend long hours on computer work often suffer from “mountain-range stiffness” — the knot of stiffness that forms on the back from mouse use.
Staring at computer and smartphone screens for extended periods overworks the eyes, causing eye fatigue.
Neck stiffness caused by computer work compresses the nerves around the neck, making people prone to autonomic nervous system disorders.
Excessive computer work after 9 PM can trigger mental symptoms such as depression.
Back Stiffness
Do you find yourself digging into your back stiffness with the corner of a pillar or your fingers to try to relieve it?
Many patients come to our clinic suffering from pain, heaviness, and discomfort between the shoulder blades and spine.
Poor Posture
Do you use your computer in a posture like this?
When computer work is done for long periods with poor left-right balance or a hunched posture, it truly becomes exhausting. This is what leads to painful symptoms such as shoulder stiffness and lower back pain.
As you can see, “computer sickness / smartphone neck” is a frightening condition that manifests in the ① muscles, ② eyes, and ③ nervous/mental system.
Areas Affected by Computer Sickness & Smartphone Neck (Especially in the Upper Body)
In the early stage, the only symptoms are “sensory abnormalities” such as stiffness in the neck, shoulders, and back, and eye fatigue. However, as the condition progresses to the middle stage, “functional abnormalities” appear, such as being unable to turn the neck, migraines, and numbness in the hands or back.
When using a computer or smartphone, you tend to look down to view the keyboard, touch panel, or monitor screen. This causes the head to lean forward, resulting in “turtle neck.”
Using a computer or smartphone tends to create a forward-leaning posture!
This “turtle neck” is the cause of neck stiffness and lower back pain.
Isn’t your neck or head also leaning forward?
This is a posture that places a heavy burden on the muscles from the shoulders to the back.
With Deep Muscle Acupuncture(DMA), releasing the stiffness in the neck and lower back restores the turtle neck to its original position.
If it worsens further, it can develop into “structural abnormalities” such as:
Frozen shoulder, cervical disc herniation, tendonitis in the fingers, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and even lung cancer.
For this reason, it is important to take countermeasures and preventive action before the condition becomes severe.
During computer work, concentration is high and breathing becomes shallow.
Because a single click can ruin an entire task or cause damage/benefit to an entire company, even the slightest operation can have a major impact, forcing people to remain highly focused.
We have found that many patients who visit our clinic with symptoms of computer sickness also show tongue tension and jaw clenching.
Naturally, their back and lower back are also extremely stiff. That is why we loosen the muscles from the head to the neck and apply acupuncture to the neck — and the symptoms change.
Muscles are divided into two types: the “outer muscles,” located near the surface, and the “inner muscles,” located deep within the body. The stiffness caused by computer work specifically arises in the inner muscles.
Computer and smartphone work place a burden on the inner muscles through prolonged, repetitive fine movements, rather than through the large forces used by the outer muscles. When these inner muscles become stiff, it produces a sensation of “deep heaviness and dullness.”
Massage
Ordinary massage only works on the outer muscles, so no matter how much you knead or rub them, that heaviness will not go away.
Loosening the surface muscles feels pleasant and provides improvement at the time.
However, after a few days to about a week, the heaviness and dullness from the neck to the back and lower back return once again.
This is why massage fails to relieve stiffness in the back or shoulders.
Our clinic’s original acupuncture treatment, “Deep Muscle Acupuncture(DMA),” works on both the inner and outer muscles, making it perfectly suited for symptoms that return even after massage alone. The advantage of acupuncture needles is that they can reach affected areas that fingers or the corner of a pillar cannot reach. We locate the stiffness in the painful areas and slowly use the needle to dissolve the paralysis in the muscles.
Patients have told us with joy that the severe heaviness and stiffness in their bodies disappear, and that headaches, nausea, and eye fatigue are also relieved.
Deep muscles are muscles located deep within the body.
Anyone interested in training or health will likely recognize the term “inner muscles.” They are said to serve various functions, such as supporting the bones and joints to maintain correct posture, and stabilizing the internal organs in their proper position.
Deep muscles are muscles attached to bones that cannot be touched from the surface.
This is an original acupuncture technique developed by the clinic’s director, Toshinobu Kadoya, based on extensive experience and a wealth of clinical results.
It is a technique that applies the needle all the way to the bone where the deep muscles attach, in order to alter the stiffness — dissolving, layer by layer with a single needle, stiffness that massage, stretching, or shallow needling cannot reach.
Although the needle is inserted deeply, a distinctive feature of this technique is that it causes almost no pain.
