Carrying your team too hard? See how you can make it easier on your back?
Hi I’m Yanah 🙂 the newest (and coolest) member of Brandon Cope’s team.
So I was hanging out with some friends not too long ago right? We were all standing outside on the porch and somehow we started talking about the human body. Specifically pain in the human body. Back pain, neck pain, things like that. “It’s just part of getting older” I remember one of them saying. Like pain is the norm. But realistically speaking, is pain normal? Is it just part of growing up? Hold on, this person is younger than me, what do you mean “getting older” am I old?
My friends and I, we like to play videogames. The thing with gaming is that we don’t actually move around a lot. Most of the time we are just staying in one spot for hours at a time and it’s not just once a week, no, sometimes days at a time. And I hear from so many of them that they experience back pain and neck pain. But I don’t, cause I’m better. Just kidding. There are things I do when I get back pain to feel better.
Does anyone else have this problem? Maybe it’s not videogames specifically but it’s work. Maybe it’s sitting at an office desk for hours a day. Or maybe a school desk. Or maybe you’re a driver or transporter and you’re sitting in a vehicle for hours at a time. If any of this sounds familiar, and you’re experiencing some body pain, maybe I can help. 🙂
According to this meta analysis study in Sports Medicine, 73% of Esports gamers reported experiencing pain in the past year. 44% reported pain in the last week. So it’s pretty common to experience pain while gaming. The most common locations were the neck, back, shoulders, elbows and wrists. Today, I want to focus on your back and neck pain.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12764727/
Soffner, Markus, et al. “Do Esports Players Experience Pain? Pain Prevalence of Esports Players: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Sports Medicine – Open, vol. 12, no. 1, 3 Jan. 2026, pp. 1–1, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-025-00971-1.
Sitting for hours, especially when you’re leaning forward can cause muscle imbalances which leads to stiffness and pain in the back, and neck.
Lower Back Pain
Prolonged sitting can affect your hip flexors, lower back muscles, and can also indicate having weak core and glute muscles. Basically your abs and glutes become weak because they aren’t being used. Meanwhile your hip flexors get tighter.
When your hip flexors get tight, they can start pulling on your pelvic bone causing it to tilt forward. This then puts pressure on your lower spine (lumbar) which then can cause lower back pain.
If this sounds like you, stretching and releasing your Hip Flexors and Quadratus Lumborum (QL) could help.
- The Kneeling Lunge Stretch (for your hip flexors)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ1eZBY4fwM
- Another thing to try is rolling a ball on your QL.
https://youtu.be/cJItbVPKOTc?si=MBcNz_E6W9Q1hgYn
Another benefit would be to strengthen the underused muscles which in this case could be the Abs and Glutes. In which case you need to find a trainer who can help you isolate those muscles in exercise, such as the trainers on our team.
Upper Back Pain
When sitting for long periods of time, sometimes your shoulders can start to drift forward and your head might start to lean closer to the monitor. (this was me lol) it might look like you’re hunching forward. In this position your chest muscles are continuing to pull you forward and they can begin to get tight. At the same time the muscles in your back and in between your shoulder blades begin to over stretch, causing them to tire out and can even develop “knots” to stop the over stretching.
If this sounds like you. You might benefit from stretching and releasing your chest (Pectoralis minor and Pectoralis major)
Pecs:
- Doorway Pec stretch
- Rolling ball on Pecs
Here’s a video that shows both of those 🙂
https://youtu.be/LSC56mf8RWI?si=wbOm6xHmK2ZXTZzg
Please note, stretching your upper back (rhomboid muscles) might not be what is necessary for them at the moment. What would be better is to have them released and then strengthen to help prevent them from over stretching again.
Neck Pain
Typically a human head weighs about 10-12lbs. When your neck tilts forward, your neck muscles are holding the weight of your head plus the force of gravity, and each inch you lean forward, the weight increases putting more strain on your neck. which sounds cool like your neck can bench press 40lb, but this is not a “healthy” position and over time could cause wear and tear, and sometimes may even require surgery. You can imagine it like holding a dumbbell. When you hold it closer to your chest it’s easier to hold, however when you extend your arm out, it becomes a lot harder to keep up.
Releasing muscles is more beneficial if you also correct your posture so SIT UP STRAIGHT with your head above your neck, and don’t lean forward when you get back in the chair.
When you sit leaning forward, with your head extending up, opening your neck, that would shorten the back of your neck, or technically known as neck extensors.
When you sit slouched in your chair, with your chin tucked towards your chest, that could cause tightness in the front of your neck, or technically known as neck flexors.
- If you lean forward you would want to stretch the back of your neck
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=neck+extensor+stretch
- If you slouch, and you need to stretch the front of the neck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijaBDkLR7BU
Releasing and strengthening your neck muscles can help too if done in combination.
Strengthening
I have had a LOT of people ask me, “how do i strengthen these muscles?” and “what exercises do i do to strengthen these muscles?” If you need help finding a trainer, ask me and I can help you.
END
Lastly, taking breaks. I know you don’t want to hear it but taking breaks and moving around is going to help you so much in the long run. Even a 5 minute walk every 20 minutes can help.
- Stretching
- Sitting up straight
- Moving around
If you really want help figuring out what’s going on with you, you can schedule an appointment with me and we can do some assessments to figure out what’s going on with you (see what I did there). We also offer a personalized self care plan specific to YOUR needs. So it’s not unnecessary homework, only essentials that we know work. Okay bye.