The beginnings of my repetitive strain-stress injury

So, I guess I first started feeling pain back in 1999. I would come home from work at an extremely stressful job as a police dispatcher and spend another 5 hours on my home computer trying to get my business going. At some point I started coming home with a headache. Looking back, I guess they would be described as "tension headaches". I would take a handful of motrin, set my alarm for 30 minutes, and take a nap. Then I would get up and work on the computer, usually headache-free. I never thought that my headaches were anything more than the stress of the job, but eventually I started getting them every day.

I was working out a bit - in fact that is another thing I discovered would get rid of a headache - a quick run, 10 or 15 minutes at a consistent pace would usually do it. Probably something with the increased circulation. So, I was working out a bit - sometimes doing strength training, but almost never stretching my neck or back related to a workout.

A couple of times I tried a regimen of "desk-stretches" like you sometimes see in industry magazines or handouts, but they never did any good. I know now that I was doing them incorrectly, and if I tried them now they probably would work ok. Sharon's explanation about fascia and how it is involved in creating your pain really made me understand what was going on when I stretched. Now I feel my fascia moving around the muscle when I stretch. I can tell what stretches still work for me and which I no longer need.

to be contd...