Upper Back Pain From Desk Work

By 4pm the ache between your shoulders has a heartbeat of its own.

You roll your shoulders, crack your neck, and go back to the spreadsheet. This is one of the most common complaints we see from office workers in Singapore, and it usually responds well to heat, movement and a few changes at the desk.

Why desk work makes your upper back ache

Your head weighs about 5 kg.

When you lean towards a screen, the muscles across your upper back and the back of your neck hold that weight out in front of you for hours. Your mid-back also stiffens from sitting curled forward. The neck side of the same problem is tech neck.

The muscles aren’t damaged. They’re overworked and underfed, the way your arm would ache if you held a bag out in front of you all afternoon.

That is why the ache builds through the day and eases over the weekend. If the ache tracks your workload rather than your posture, see stress and tight shoulders.

Using heat for it

• At your desk: sit tall and place the pad between your upper back and the chair. Lean back lightly for 15–20 minutes, ideally at lunch or mid-afternoon when the ache builds.
• At home: lie on your front with the pad across your shoulder blades, or sit and drape it over the top of your shoulders. On whether a shaped wrap beats a flat pad here, see heated wraps vs a flat pad.
• Straight after: do the movements below while the muscles are warm.

If your office runs cold, heat does double duty. See freezing in the office aircon. Using a 2-pin pad at work? Read using a 2-pin plug heat pad safely in Singapore first. Keep it on the lowest setting through a cover.

Four movements for your break

1. Chair backbend. Sit back so the top of the chair meets your mid-back. Hands behind your head, lean back gently over the chair edge. 5 slow reps.
2. Shoulder blade squeeze. Draw your shoulder blades back and down, hold 5 seconds. 10 reps.
3. Doorway stretch. Forearms on either side of a door frame, step through until you feel a stretch across your chest. Hold 20–30 seconds.
4. Chin tuck. Slide your chin straight back, making a double chin, without tilting your head. Hold 3 seconds. 10 reps.

If one tight spot keeps reappearing between the shoulder blades, see muscle knots, heat and a massage ball.

Desk changes that make the biggest difference

• Screen at eye level. Laptop users: raise it on a stand or a stack of books, and use a separate keyboard and mouse.
• Get up every 30–45 minutes. Refill your water, walk to a colleague instead of messaging. Your back needs variety more than a perfect posture. The lower-back version of this is sitting back pain from gaming and study.
• Bring the keyboard close so your elbows rest by your sides.
• Phone at eye level for long calls and scrolling, or use earphones. Thumbs and wrists complain too: thumb and wrist pain from phone use.

Don’t put it down to your desk if…

• Upper back pain comes with chest pressure, breathlessness, sweating or nausea. Call 995.
• It hurts more when you breathe in deeply, or you have a cough and fever. See rib and chest wall strain.
• A band of burning pain on one side comes before a rash (shingles).
• Numbness, tingling or weakness spreads into your arm or hand.
• The pain is constant, wakes you at night, or you’re losing weight without trying.

Pain that sits right on one shoulder blade has its own list of causes. Read heating pad for shoulder blade pain. For the neck itself, heating pad for neck pain.

A pad big enough to cover both shoulder blades is the one to get for desk work: see the size guide and the best heating pad in Singapore.

Clinically reviewed by: Nigel Chua (Hand Occupational Therapist) & Louise Yow (Physiotherapist). This article is general information, not a diagnosis. electricheatpad.com sells electric heat pads.