Sit at a screen all day? The neck stiffness, the 3pm headache, the shoulders up by your ears — it's a predictable pattern, which means there's a clear place to start: your screen, your chair and how your neck moves. One block off the 880 Broadway exit.
Eight-plus hours at a desk compresses the low back, rounds the shoulders, pushes the head forward and locks the hips. It shows up as tension headaches, tight traps, a stiff neck by mid-afternoon, and that wired-but-exhausted feeling that follows you home.
The name "tech neck" makes it sound trivial. It isn't a diagnosis so much as a description of a loading pattern — and the useful thing about a pattern is that it can be interrupted. That takes two things: restoring movement where it's been lost, and changing what happens at your desk for the other forty hours a week. Do only the first and it rebuilds.
We've been in the same downtown Oakland office since 2013, steps from Old Oakland and Chinatown and a 4-minute walk from 12th Street BART. If you want to know what a first visit involves and how cost is handled before you book, read how care works.
These aren't random aches. They're a predictable pattern — and because it's predictable, it's addressable.
Every inch your head drifts toward the screen multiplies the load the muscles at the back of your neck have to carry. Result: stiffness, tension headaches, shoulders living up by your ears. See the load climb → · Neck pain care → · Is cracking your neck bad? →
Hip flexors shorten in the chair, then pull on your low back the moment you stand. That end-of-day ache usually isn't age. It's mechanics. Back pain care →
Slumped posture means shallower breathing, and shallow breathing keeps the nervous system on alert. Posture and stress aren't two problems — they're one system.
Screen headaches often come with tension in the upper neck, shoulders and jaw. We examine all three, along with your screen and chair, and tell you if anything points elsewhere. TMJ and jaw care · More on tension and neck-related headaches →
Repetitive strain doesn't stay in one joint. Extremity care keeps the whole chain moving — wrist to shoulder to neck.
When the body stops bracing, sleep tends to deepen. A lot of desk workers notice that shift before the pain has fully resolved.
Every visit ends with something you can use at your desk the same day. Not a forty-minute routine you'll never do. Two or three things chosen for your specific pattern:
Want your numbers before you come in? The desk setup calculator turns your height into a starting chair, desk and monitor height you can print.
Some employers offer wellness benefits that can help cover chiropractic care. Check with your HR team. More: how HSA, FSA and employer benefits apply.
We bring a free 30-minute talk to downtown Oakland offices — practical posture, micro-breaks and stress tools a team can use the same afternoon. No pitch, no product.
HR leads, office managers and building property managers: see the corporate wellness page, or email us to get one scheduled.
It's the common name for neck and upper back strain from holding your head forward toward a screen for long stretches. The further forward the head sits, the more load the muscles at the back of the neck carry to hold it there. Over months that becomes stiffness, tension headaches, raised shoulders and mid-back tightness. It's a mechanical pattern rather than a disease — which is why changing the mechanics works.
Two halves, both necessary. In the office: assessment and adjustment of the neck and upper back to restore movement, plus soft tissue work on the muscles carrying the load. Outside the office: the workstation and the habit change, or the pattern rebuilds. A practitioner who only does the first half is treating half the problem.
Yes. Midday appointments run Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We're one block from the 880 Broadway exit and a 4-minute walk from 12th Street BART and about 12 minutes from Lake Merritt BART, so a lunch hour is realistic. Early slots from 7:30 am are available Tuesday and Thursday, and Saturdays run 7:30 to 1:00.
Some employers offer wellness benefits that can help cover chiropractic care. Check with your HR team. HSA and FSA funds are eligible for chiropractic as a qualified medical expense. More on that here.
It depends on how long the pattern has been building and what changes outside the office. Many people notice some easing early, but a posture pattern built over years isn't undone in one visit, and anyone promising that is overselling. What you should get from a first visit is a clear picture of what's happening and a specific plan, with the cost in writing before you agree to it.
Early morning, midday or after work. 435 8th Street #203 — one block off the 880 Broadway exit, a 4-minute walk from 12th Street BART and about 12 minutes from Lake Merritt BART.
Book a visitDr. Ben Glass on forward head posture, neck strain and pinched-nerve patterns from screen work.