WHY BEAUTY PROFESSIONALS GET STUCK WITH NECK AND SHOULDER PAIN

And what the core of your body has to do with it

If you've been doing this work for more than a few years, you probably know the feeling of having neck aches and painful shoulders where no amount of stretching gives you any lasting relief.

So, you book a massage for your neck and shoulders. You feel better for a day or two. And then it comes back. You then decide to book a chiropractic session or go to yoga, and the cycle continues.

📌 If you are wondering why your neck and shoulder pain keeps coming back, keep reading.

COULD YOUR CORE BE THE SOURCE OF NECK AND SHOULDER PAIN?

When your spine and torso shift out of alignment, your neck and shoulders must work a little harder to keep you upright.

But how does the torso become misaligned? This happens through our repeated postures at work and in daily life. Over time, one side of the body becomes more contracted than the other. It's very common and many of us are unaware of it.

Let’s dive deeper to better understand this.

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For example, if you always reach down to the right to grab products, your right side is consistently being contracted each day. Eventually, the right side of your core may pull your right shoulder down towards your hip, even at rest. To keep your head upright, your nervous system will activate the muscles on the left side of your neck and shoulder to help you stand up straight, making them work harder. Over time, this shows up as chronic tension.

You might feel like you need to regularly massage and stretch the left side of your neck and shoulder, but they’re not actually the cause of your discomfort. It’s the contracted right side of your body.

3 WAYS THE CORE BECOMES CHRONICALLY CONTRACTED

📌 FORWARD, ROUNDED POSTURE

This affects beauty professionals the most, and it makes complete sense since many professionals bend over clients most of the day such as cutting and colouring hair, painting nails, or applying lashes.

This type of work contracts the front of your body, making your chest and abdominal muscles habitually shortened. Over time, the front of your core pulls the spine forward. Forward head posture can develop, and your head, neck, and shoulders may sit in front of your pelvis instead of stacked above it.

To help counteract this, your nervous system responds by contracting the muscles in your back, neck, and shoulders to bring you back upright.

The result: You begin feeling chronically tense in your upper back, neck and shoulders, but the root of the problem is coming from your chest and abdominals. Once this happens, no amount of stretching or treating your neck and shoulders will resolve the problem long-term.

Recommendations: Focus on releasing muscles in the front of the body to allow the spine to realign. Movements in our program that help with this include the Arch and Flatten, Arch and Curl, and Head Lifts.

📌 USING ONE SIDE REPEATEDLY

Most people have a dominant side. If you’re right-handed, you will probably keep your products or trolly to your right where you likely bend or each to the right hundreds of times a day. Or you always hold your scissors in your right hand. Or, in your life outside of work, you might always carry your purse on your right shoulder, your child on your right hip or even lean to the right when relaxing on the sofa.

The result: Over time, the muscles along one side of your torso can become tighter than the other, subtly tilting the spine to one side, often going unnoticed for years. The neck compensates by pulling in the opposite direction to keep your head upright.

This is why you might feel tension more strongly on one side of your neck than the other, and why it never quite evens out.

Recommendations: Focus on releasing tension on the dominant side of your body using our Side Curl movement. Then, try to use the other side in your daily activities. For example, start carrying your bags on the opposite side to even out the force on the body.

📌 EXAGGERATED LOWER BACK ARCH

This pattern happens less often, but it's common in professionals who spend a lot of time on their feet. (Hello, hairdressers!)

After standing for long periods, your core muscles can become fatigued. As they tire, your pelvis may roll forward, increasing the curve in your lower back, which limits the ability of the abdominals to stabilise your spine. This creates tension in the lower back as these muscles work harder to keep you upright.

The result: As this posture doesn’t allow your abs to support your core the way they should, it means the neck and shoulders take on an additional load they shouldn't be carrying.

Recommendations: Focus on releasing the lower back to allow the abdominals to do their job. Perform the Arch and Flatten, the Arch and Curl, and the Back Lift movements regularly.

USING THE NERVOUS SYSTEM TO RESET ALIGNMENT

Your body adapts to the motions you repeat, and your nervous system controls this process. Therefore, if your nervous system creates these adaptions, it can also undo them.

Our Release & Reset Method instructs the nervous system to do exactly this.

📌 If you want to try a free exercise targeting shoulder tension before committing to the course, access it here now. It takes about five minutes and gives you a direct experience of what out method feels like and what you can expect from the full-body program....Plus, your shoulders will feel amazing!