Coffee may ease neck and shoulder pain linked to computer use

More South Africans are spending extended hours at their computers and laptops. How many times have you found yourself rubbing your shoulders and neck in an attempt to ease the pain , and perhaps even landed up at the doctors for medication. Well according to new research in Norway, coffee could be the answer …

In a study conducted in OSLO, Norway they claim that drinking just one cup of caffeinated coffee in the mornings may help reduce chronic neck and shoulder pain associated with working long hours at a computer, according to a new study published in the journal

Researchers from Norway’s National Institute of Occupational Health and Oslo University Hospital conducted a study to determine if subjects who had consumed coffee before performing a simulated computer office-work task found to provoke pain in the neck, shoulders, forearms and wrists exhibited different time course in the pain development than the subjects who had  abstained from coffee intake.

For the study, 48 participants (22 with chronic neck or shoulder pain and 26 healthy pain-free subjects) were recruited to perform office-based computer work. Nineteen (40%) of the subjects had consumed coffee (1/2 to 1 cup) on average one hour before the task. Pain intensity in the shoulders and neck and forearms and wrists was rated on a visual analogue scale every 15 minutes throughout the work task.

The found 19 of the participants who had drank coffee, whether they had chronic pain or not, developed less pain over the course of the 90 minutes compared to those who didn’t drink coffee.

The researchers said the results might have potentially interesting implications of a pain-modulating effect of caffeine in an everyday setting. However, studies with a double-blind placebo controlled randomized design are needed. (source BMC Research)

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