Shoulder Tension, Stress, and Shivering: How Winter Weather Affects Your Health

by | Feb 15, 2017 | Functional Movement, Posture Improvement | 0 comments

Shoulder  Tension, Stress, & Shivering

Have you ever thought about relationship being cold has on the amount of shoulder tension and neck stress you’re holding onto in your body?

If you’re in a colder climate do you seem to feel worse in the Winter, and not-so-bad in warmer months?  Are you one who usually blames the stress of the Holidays for your neck and shoulder pain?  Lack of sunshine might not be the only reason your body is feeling more tight and achy than usual.

This year it has seemed quite a bit chillier here in Kansas, and maybe that’s why I’ve noticed how the winter weather is effecting shoulder tension. It seems a lot of my clients are catching on to the connection too.  The body’s natural reflex response when cold is to shiver.  These little micro, muscle contractions are designed to create heat and energy to keep us warm, maintain our internal body temperature.  These micro, muscle contractsion are a great reminder that hypothermia might be where we’re headed if we don’t do something soon to warm up. However, in the process, we end up creating lots of internal shoulder tension we might not be taking the time to clear out of our system.

Think about it; If you just sit in your chair reading this and “pretend” your cold, how does your body react?  Do you slouch more, trying to curl up in a fetal position?  Did you draw your shoulders up and forward around your ears?  Did you head drop even farther forward off your neck?  Did you slump into the pelvis and collapse the ribs and back?  Did you start shivering a bit while you were “pretending” to be cold?

Here’s the thing… If this is what happens when you’re “pretending” for only a minute, how long are you hanging out in this awkward poor posture position throughout the day? Or, for days on end? But what if we hang on to this awkward, poor posture position throughout the cold winter months? Aren’t we just reinforcing bad body alignment and creating chronic neck pain and shoulder tension?

Awareness is the first step in taming winter neck and shoulder tension.  Pay attention to your posture, because there’s a very good change that YOUR posture habits are creating the problem!

Is it possible to just never be cold so you don’t shiver? Probably not. But knowing that the posture you put yourself in while shivering is wreaking havoc on your health, means that taking the time to bundle up to stay warm when you’re outside is important, and taking a little extra time to “undo” the effects of shivering will do your body worlds of good to help keep your neck and shoulders happy and stress-free through the winter while we await warmer months.

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Have you taken my quick Posture Quiz?  Improve body awareness for better posture to help get those shoulders down away from your ears.  For more low center support (and fitness for whole-body health) get a copy of the e-book The Pulse-Power Daily Dozen – 10 minute Workout.  The Pulse-Power Daily Dozen exercises are easy-to-learn, and great for a warm-up, cool-down, or as a stand-alone quick whole-body conditioning program to deepen your mind-body connection and help you get more from your core to help keep your shoulders away from your ears to reduce shoulder tension.

Aliesa George: Over the past three decades, Aliesa George has helped assist people with their personal health journeys by sharing, teaching, and developing Pilates, Foot Fitness, and other Mind-Body programs.

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