The Power of Suggestion

A friend on Facebook commented on how the mere mention of head lice makes her scratch her head. Which, of course, set off a whole string of us scratching our heads! Which then made me think of the Itchy and Scratchy show (for some reason just seeing them makes me giggle):

And now TELL ME you are NOT scratching your head???!!

Along those lines, on Friday I had an ergonomic assessment done here at work. Oddly, I never asked for one back when my elbow was in pain for over-use of the scrolling bar on the mouse – no, that one I self diagnosed and broke the scroll habit and did some stretches and the pain was gone and has not returned. No, I requested it because I am just kind of *aggravated* in general about the set up. I can tell it is just not quite right. The keyboard tray is too limited in it’s movement, I have an older chair and keyboard and I am always fiddling with them to get comfortable. I’m not in pain, but I just keep fidgeting with it.

Well, he was here for three minutes and asked me if I had a pain in my neck right there – and he points to the spot on his head on the right side where – HELLO! – I’ve been complaining about being my “pain spot” for over 7 years!!! Dude? How did you KNOW so fast? He said “because you are slouching to the right and stressing out your shoulder and neck on that side.” Whoa. He’s right of course. And while my more aggressive work out routines have *certainly* helped that pain spot a lot, it still is not totally gone. It does flare up – just less frequently and I honestly never associated it with my desk set up! So, of course, now that he’s told me what happens, I can’t get my mind off of it right? He said it starts with my tail bone which starts rolling and pulling me down which makes me then lean forward and to the right since that’s my dominant hand. Then yes, my keyboard is too low as are the sheets of paper I look at while work so that my whole upper body is being pulled down.

So what’s going on until I am able to push through the paperwork to get the stuff he’s recommending for me?

Well, I’m shoving a blanket in my lower back area to provide support. I’m feeling my tailbone constantly I am so self conscious about it! I’m thinking to myself  “SIT UP STRAIGHT!” like every 15 minutes:

Now – stop scratching your head! And sit up straight! 🙂