Your working environment and posture
Defining posture in inherently difficult. We are all individuals. We all carry compensatory skeletal and muscular variants based on a lifetime of ‘living’. Slumped forward pose can easily be recognised as poor posture, but so too, at the opposite end of the spectrum, is the erect military stance. We are spending more of our working hours sat at a desk, sometimes in an office environment, with its, hopefully, ergonomic features, but increasingly at home and often replacing the office desk with a kitchen table or maybe even the arm of our comfy sofa, and the office screen with a laptop.
Realising the most efficient way of sitting will help to minimalize musculoskeletal problems associated with habitual poor posture. It is all too common a problem but one that with a little preparation and knowledge can be avoided.
Neck, shoulders, lower back and forearms are the primary, though not exclusively, areas associated with discomfort. One of the most basic but often forgotten way to reduce musculoskeletal stresses is to ‘move’. Movement is your friend. Our posterior muscle are predominately endurance muscles, they withstand the natural inclination to flex and curl as per the felt position from which we gradually unwind as we learn to crawl, sit and stand. Sitting, indeed remaining in any position for long periods of time, brings about an element of ‘creep’ into these muscle groups, causing us to effectively ‘sag’ and requiring more muscular effort to maintain. There-fore it is important to move. I recommend that when sitting at a desk you take the time to stand and take a few paces every 30 minutes or so. That might involve setting a reminder on your phone or perhaps standing up to make/take a phone call, moving items of use such as books out of easy reach so that you are having to move to access them. We have a tendency especially when using a regular desk area to bring everything within easy reach for convenience.
Swivel style chairs are usually comfortable and often have lumber support features, but they can also cause you to remain very static about the spine. When you wish to turn is it the chair that is rotating or your spine? Be aware of this. You could have been sitting for the full 30 minutes( before your alarm alerts you to stand up) and never have rotate your spine. Simple rotational movements will help prevent this stiffness. When performing any functional movement make them purposeful, don’t just go through the motions. Make them slow, feel what is occurring. Use your eyes to ‘lead’ the movement and so enabling greater range.
I would also like to mention briefly the use of stand-up desks. Whilst opinions remain divided about the detailed benefits of such desks it is widely accepted that they successful in reducing sedentary behaviours and so addressing some of the health problems associated with it. As with a conventional desk the set up and regular breaks are equally important.
Remember we are all individuals and you may have to experiment a little to get it perfect for you. This information is far from exhaustive, but I hope it helps you to help yourself. I have attached a few video clips that will hopefully be beneficial to you in helping to better set up your work area and also some simple movements you can do.
How to sit pain free at the desk: the Feldenkrais way. https://youtu.be/w_N26C8WzgU
Desk set-up. https://youtu.be/F8_ME4VwTiw
Sit/stand-up desk set up. https://youtu.be/BjyhmguQ1ak
Doug Wroe SMRT MSMA (Gold)
