pain and sore muscles from studying!!!

Published

Specializes in Level III cardiac/telemetry.

OMG! I am sitting around way to much right now and it's making me hurt all the time. My back hurts, my neck hurt, my butt hurts and my knees hurt. Add to that my wrist from typing and writing so much and my jaw from having TMJ and keeping it clenched. I can't seem to find a good place to study. My favorite place is on the couch with my feet on the coffee table and books or laptop on my lap so I can have the TV on, but that is making it worse. I've tried the kitchen table but I don't work as well there and I end up more hunched over the table. I have the same problem at my desk. When my roommate moves out next month I'm considering trying to get a treadmill in her room and make some kind of stand to put my books on to study while I use it. I've seen documentaries about people who work this way and it's good for you. My parent's don't really understand why I want to do that but I've tried to tell them that I will be studying so much in the next couple of years that it will be worth it. Until then though...I don't know what to do. I'm going to get a massage this week, which is just a temporary solution. My other problem is that I had to take off the down mattress topper from my bed because I found out I was allergic to down, so I'm not sleeping well at night. So I'm also on the hunt to find something good for my bed.

What do you guys do to keep moving and keep the pain away???? I know that I will be spending a lot of time on my feet in my career and I don't want to end up in pain before I even start! I also have fibromyalgia, so it's important that I get this problem taken care of.

Help!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hi Lanabanana - I'm sorry to hear that you are hurting so much already :crying2:. I get up about every 15-20 and do some mindless chore around here, but at the same time I'm mentally reviewing what I've just read/calculated, etc. The only problem I've had so far is mild neck pain, but then again, ibuprofen works wonders for me. :icon_hug:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in OR Internship starting in Jan!!.

I feel your pain (haha). I wish I could get up and move around more, but it doesn't work for me. I get too distracted. If you find a miracle position, let me know! :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Short breaks while studying to lift hand weights; engage your core muscles. I use The Body Sculpting Bible Express (Women's edition) which has photographs of exercises and suggested routines. Leslie Sansone's Walk-Away-The-Pounds DVDs too. The one-mile only takes 15 minutes - not bad. My favorite is to take an early morning power walk around the neighborhood - not looking forward to having to give that up once school begins.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in OB.

i spent soooo much $$$ at the chiropractor my first year :(

they suggested getting your books up more to level with your eyes/body, so you are not bent over. Think about how much your head weighs, and then you hang in down to read, and all those muscles in your neck, shoulders and upper back get trashed. When mine really hurt, I would get into my recliner, prop my feet up and put a pillow on my stomach to bring the book up higher. It felt much better. but you cant take notes like this, so back to the kicthen tabel I went. I think a music stand/easel would be great for standing up studying!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Motrin. But, don't take so much that you damage your kidneys permanently like I did. Sounds like you might have the beginnings of a back problem. I see a chiropractor on a regular basis and discuss positioning problems I have similar to yours. He has always given me good suggestions on the proper alignment of my spine, head, neck and extremities as well as suggestions for good kinds of exercises. Believe me, my spine is really messed up and I have to keep it in traction (I need to keep bent forward) most of the time to prevent pain. Every part of me still gets stiff the longer I don't move. So, when I get up, I start out real S-L-O-W and work my way through 1st, 2nd, 3rd and finally 4th gear before I can get moving real well.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Level III cardiac/telemetry.

Yes, I see a chiropractor but even that hasn't been helping. I'm sure he would kill me if he saw the positions that I study in! When I sit on the couch and study I usually have one leg bent around under me and that knee is killing me now. Guess I'm really going to have to work on this. I did just call and leave a message for a massage therapist and hopefully I can get in tomorrow.

I was trying to explain to my mom yesterday the effect that school is having on my but she didn't understand it. I am gaining weight (from stress eating and sitting all the time), I'm sooo tired, I hurt all over, and I'm getting migraines more frequently (probably related to the reading/studying so much - hey, that sounds like the start of a good nursing dx!) Will I make it out alive??? It's really my own fault because I'm pushing so hard. I'm waaaaaayyy ahead on my book work for the PN program, but I just keep barrelling ahead, and I'm also finishing up my sciences so I can bridge straight in to the RN program upon graduation.

Glad to know I'm not alone though! We can all be hunchbacks together!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.

Good luck with figuring out a position that works for you, sorry to hear your in pain though. But wow, awesome job on working so hard to get ahead-it will pay off for you!

I just wanted to say I work out at a gym and I lug along a book to study when I am on the treadmill, I actually study really well this way and it makes the time fly by! You can get a plastic book holder that fits right over the top of the treadmill (get a large one for those huge nursing books). It will help you at least not gain any more weight too!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Peds.

This is kind of random, but spring semester I was up till 2-3-4am every night studying and kept my contacts in.... I ended up with abraisions on my corneas from my eyes being too dry from staring at books and the computer and my contacts scratched my eyes. It took 2 months to get rid of them and my eyes were sooo red....

So if you wear contacts and must study late into the night.... Take them out!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Level III cardiac/telemetry.
This is kind of random, but spring semester I was up till 2-3-4am every night studying and kept my contacts in.... I ended up with abraisions on my corneas from my eyes being too dry from staring at books and the computer and my contacts scratched my eyes. It took 2 months to get rid of them and my eyes were sooo red....

So if you wear contacts and must study late into the night.... Take them out!

Funny you mention this...I've probably only worn my contacts twice in the last month because they do bother me more when I'm studying. My allergies are also bad right now so I decided it was better just to be nice to them. It has reminded me how much I HATE my glasses though! When I got new lenses in February I decided not to spend the extra money on the scratch coating because I hadn't been wearing them very much and thought I would be ok. But now that I'm wearing them all the time I find that I drop them sometimes on the bathroom tile and they're getting scratched. Ugh!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Infection Preventionist/ Occ Health.

When I was having problems with neck and back pain related to bad positioning while studying, I mentioned it to the physical therapist at my headache clinic.

She recommended propping up textbooks on a cookbook holder and sitting with them at about eye level to prevent hunching over. Who would have thought!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in cardiac/education.

I have this same problem. My back hurts all the time after prolonged sitting. I won't even sit prolonged now w/o a heating pad under my back. But sitting on the couch in a slighly recumbant position while studying is unconducive the least. I am thinking about borrowing a desk and a chair. I have a treadmill, but can't really study on it. I don't really want to either!;)

One thing that I am trying is breaking the studying up A LOT. I haven't actually implemented this yet, but it sounds good. I get in my good workout in the morning (one hour). After this my blood is pumping, got the endorphins going, eat breakfast, study for about 1.5 hours. Get up, go do something, like start laundry, vacuum, etc. Do that for about 30 min to one hour. Go back to studying 1 hour. Get up, do something.

The key here is GETTING UP AND DOING SOMETHING every hour for long enough for your back to recover. The best way to use your treadmill would not be to study on it, but get on it for 20 min every 1.5 hours you study. Work hard enough to make you slightly SOB and get your blood pumping. Then get off and study. The reason this will work is because it gives your mind a break while increasing blood flow to your hypoxic muscles. This should keep the pain at bay for another hour. Make sure when you get off the treadmill you really stretch your neck. Every day after my good workout in the AM I spend a lot of time stretching out my back and neck. I hold a dumbell in one hand (a light one) and let it hang to my side while I bend my neck to the other side. You can also do this w/o a dumbell but I get such a good stretch with the dumbell but BE CAREFUL or you will strain your neck. I also strech my back, my hip flexors, really put my limbs thru full ROM.

The reason I advocate this approach is for the forementioned reasons but also because if you study on a treadmill your body mechanics will be thrown off ever so slightly that you may end up with pain from that!! You are much better off to find a good chair and a good desk and walk tall and powerful on that treadmill. Practice good body alignment. Keep your shoulders back and your abs tight. Try not to stick your head out too far forward from your shoulders.

I have mild scoliosis that throws my alignment off ever-so-slightly and it has caused big chronic muscle ache problems in my back and neck. I actually quit my last job because of pain from prolonged sitting! I used to go to a chiropractor but that did not help much since chiropractors deal more with bones than muscles. I find that as long as I increase blood flow to my muscles I am fine. That is the trick. So, I do this with exercise and heating pads. Oh, and trying to practice good posture.

But, I know your pain. Nursing school is tough on the body. I absolutely hate sitting around all day studying!! But breaks are the only way to go! Get some upbeat good music and jam away on that new treadmill between study sessions. Let me know how it goes! :icon_hug:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion