Adopt A More Professional Posture

How you sit at your desk in your office – or in your home office if you’re working remotely these days – will definitely affect your posture. It’s amazing how many people ignore the fundamentals of good posture during a long working day, and they feel pain as a result. At our Epsom physio clinic, we treat people suffering from chronic back and neck pain, headaches, muscle fatigue, joint pain and more – and a lot of these issues are caused by, you guessed it, poor posture caused by sitting the wrong way at work.

With this in mind, we encourage you to take a new look at how you sit if you have a desk job. Here is our advice:

• As back pain is a common symptom of bad posture, it’s important you adjust your chair so your lower back is supported. This will reduce the strain on your back, and will be further improved by keeping your knees slightly lower than your hips. We sell back cushions that help to maintain the correct spinal positioning while providing firm yet comfortable lateral support. Get in touch to find out more.
• Adjust the height of your chair to allow you to use a keyboard with your wrists and forearms straight and level with the floor. This will minimise the chances of RSI. Keep your elbows by the side of your body so that your arm forms an L-shape at the elbow joint. This might feel like an unnatural posture to begin with, but will feel more natural over time.
• Keep your feet flat on the floor. And try to avoid crossing your legs as you sit as this can also lead to posture-related issues.
• Place your computer monitor at eye level and directly in front of you. Looking up or down at your monitor can place undue stress on your neck. You may need a stand to get the monitor at the right height – the top of the screen at roughly eye level is ideal.
• Your keyboard should be right in front of you, with a gap of 100 to 150 millimetres at the front of your desk to rest your wrists when you’re not typing.
• Keep items you use regularly within easy reach. For example, pens, a computer mouse, and your phone should be close by so you are not always overstretching to reach them.
• Take regular breaks to avoid sitting in the same position for too long. Stretching your legs on a frequent basis and for a short time is better than longer breaks on a less regular basis.

Hopefully, these steps will help you avoid posture-related issues in the future. But if you’re suffering right now and need some pain relief, contact us and we’ll treat the problem and give you more advice on adopting a more professional posture.