Hello everyone, I would like to share my recent experience with my health issue. It has been 6 months since I had a neck surgery to replace a Cervical disc. How and why did it happen? What the symptoms were? And how you should be looking out for yourself if you are an artist, designer and maybe working similarly to these occupations.
I will try my best to write in this “health – medical content” as clear as I can. So, please bear with me. If you are young, starting out and pursuing in art, please read this blog post. I wish someone told me about this 20 years ago.
Accumulating a bad habit over time
First, I would like to say that I am 46 years old (when writing this blog in 2024). I had been seriously into drawing while I was a Fashion Design student back in 2003. However, when I was working in fashion, the drawing part became less because there were tasks like apparels construction such as draping, pattern-making, sewing, embroidering etc. involved. Most of the time, I had to bend my neck to see the work details up-close in continuing for a long period of time. This body posture was bad and created health problem later on.
The early symptom I had around 2008 was shoulder pain. I had a physical therapy in New York City for a while. And then again in 2016 in Bangkok while I had my wedding dress business. The diagnose was that I had an inflammation between my right shoulder joints due to overworking or carrying heavy things too much. The doctor suggested that I should stop working for a week and try not to carry any heavy stuffs or use arm in motion too much. The arm movement could press the joint to the inflammation part which caused pain.
When it got worse
In 2020, I became a full time illustrator. I spent very long hours each days on my work. Many nights when the inspiration and drawing mood kicked in, I drew continuously from 9 pm until 3 am without any break. I was having a trance and was totally obsessed with the artwork. However, it also meant that I was unconsciously forcing my body to be in the bad posture for too long. The shoulder pain came back, plus the neck and the upper back pain.
During 2020 – 2022, I drew with my iPad laying flat on a table. That was the wrong thing to do because I had to bend my neck and body way too much. Until, I saw other artists recommended using a drawing stand or an iPad stand to help elevate the screen angle. I immediately got one and it really improved my posture.
I continued working on drawing using the iPad stand. However, the iPad wasn’t the only thing that I used a lot. I used my iPhone even more often for personal use and social media posts! Of course, I bent my neck looking down at the iPhone screen. These altogether caused a neck injury which required a surgery to fix the problem.
Around sometimes in the Summer of 2023, I experienced sharp pain in my neck, shoulders and arms, tingling pain sensation down my arms, hands and finger tips, and muscle weakness. Sometimes the pain woke me up at night. It was really horrible. I had no idea what caused it so I decided to seek for a medical help.
The diagnosis and the surgery
In October 2023, I was sent to see an orthopedic doctor. In the beginning, I had an x-ray at my neck which showed that a cervical disc (#C5/6) seemed to slip toward the back and pushed against the nerve. I was diagnosed for a “Cervical disc disorder with radiculopathy”. So, I had a pain that caused by pinched nerve. The doctor explained that this was caused by the habit of bending my neck for long period of time. When you bend your neck, the neck bones pressed the cervical discs in between and it could eventually squeezed one at the front part and that made the disc to slip backward. Scary, right? Not only that, bending over your neck for a long time could cause a bone growth in the neck bones and could result the same pain from pinched nerve. That happened to my cousin who is an interior designer. She had a similar surgery at her neck (bone growth at #C4/5). She was quite young when she had the surgery. I think she was 27 years old, then.
By the way, the doctor told me that this health issue is very common amongst artists and designers. I wish someone told me earlier about this so I could avoid this problem.
I was given some medication to improve nerves and muscles pain for a couple of months to see if I would feel better. However, it didn’t help. Then in January 2024, I had an MRI for a higher detailed scan to see how bad this Cervical disc disorder was. It was serious. The only option that would help eliminate the pain is a surgery called “Anterior vertebral discectomy”.
I decided to have the surgery immediately because my husband and I was planning on our move from Bangkok to France in April 2024. The recovery from the surgery would take 3 months, at least. So, we had to change our flight to one month later than we scheduled.
Here is a post-surgery x-ray (one day after the surgery). The cervical disc was removed and replaced by a peek (which is a medical device) that look like a plastic ring with tiny thorns. I also have 3 titanium screws in my neck now.
The recovery
In general, the recovery is quite quick (said the doctor). But in my case, it wasn’t. Two weeks after the surgery, I felt better and thought that I could go back to do some drawing. I did two drawings in February and it wasn’t a good idea at all to do it. The pain came back. The doctor told me that the neck muscle worked too hard because the body core (the neck and bones) was not strong just yet. So, the neck muscles might have pushed into the same nerve area which was still sensitive from the surgery.
The doctor’s recommendation / order was to avoid drawing until fully recovered. I had a physical therapy for the entire time before I left Bangkok to France. The therapy part was quite necessary for me and I learned a great deal more about how to do stretch and exercise, good and bad body postures, what might happen if you do this or do that.
My daily activity can not go out laying down for a few hours in the afternoon. The body need to take a rest from being “up” for too long because the neck is not completely strong. If I have to be out for a whole day, I will need to bring a soft collar with me to wear in the afternoon. Otherwise, I would feel pain around my neck and shoulder muscles.
And I now have a 5 cm. scar on my front neck. Hopefully, this will fade away sometimes soon. 🤞🏼
Better habits & well-being for artists
So, what I learned from this is to plan for a better working / living habits.
- Never spend more than 20-30 minutes in the same body position while working. This includes working at a computer desk and a drawing table. The body needs to have a great change of position, i.e. walking around and do some stretches for a few minutes. It prevents the same muscles from overworking. Sitting for a long time can cause hip pain as well and I have felt an increasing hip pain over the years from this. You should somehow time yourself so that you don’t sit too long.
- Use an iPad stand or a sketch board to elevate the drawing screen surface. If you work with tradition art supplies such as art paper, pencils and colors, you should get a drafting board or a drafting table (for watercolor, this might be a little tricky). These tools will minimize the risk of your neck and back injury.
- Get a good chair. I haven’t found a good chair for drawing just yet. But I have an Aeron chair which I use for my computer desk, love it! My cousin who is studying physical therapy recommend that I should adjust the chair height or the table height, when drawing, so that my eye level is workable with the iPad screen. Then I don’t have to bend my neck and back so much to see the drawing details.
- Have a good posture will reduce the risk of neck and spine problem. My therapist had helped me with learning about exercise and what to watch out for so I don’t fall in to a bad posture habit.
- Avoid carry heavy things. Get a light weight backpack or a small bag instead of a heavy bag, i.e. my leather bag which is almost 1 kilogram by itself!
- Get a good pillow that helps align your neck and spine while sleeping.
- Be mindful when using the mobile phone. We tend to spend so much time with our phones. So, maybe get a holder so that you don’t bend your neck looking down for a long period of time. And try to take a break from your phone often.
These are some main points that I can think of to share with you. I just want to spread the awareness of the health risk which happens in the art and design field. If you find this useful, please share it to others.
Stay healthy!
Nhoo 👩🏻🎨
Disclaimer : this blog post was written from my own experience. I do not claim any expertise in medical information. If you would like to get more information, confirmation and advices, please reach out to a doctor or a specialist.
