iPHYSIO

Prevent neck and back pain at work

If you are one of the people who work all day sitting at a desk then you might need to read this. With this desk-bound behavior might put you at a bigger risk for spending a long time in a poor posture which potentially causing pain and discomfort. Here are the 5 tips that will be helping your neck and back at work.

Practice good posture

When sitting at your desk, always remember to place your feet flat on the floor and straighten up your back. Your head should be in a neutral position with ears directly above your shoulders. Adjust your chair height if needed to avoid your hunching your back and allow your thighs to angle down slightly. With this position your weight ideally distributed through your sit bones, located on your lower portions of your hips.

Adjust monitor height

Monitor height could be a crucial part of having good posture, place your computer monitor or adjust laptop screen directly in front of you with the center of the screen level with your nose. You will increase stress on your neck if you angle your head downward with a low monitor screen. If you ware working with a laptop, a secondary monitor is suggested.

Stand more

Although sitting in an office is comfortable and simple, but it can be exhausting. The longer you sit, the harder you hold a good posture. Try to spend a couple of minutes on your feet that you would otherwise spend in a chair. Readjust your posture if you feel like your posture is falling off. Another option is to use a standing desk, it might not suitable for you but give it a try.

Limit phone screen use

Phones and tablets are getting more and more common owning one in your hand and people tend to bend their heads forward further when looking at their phones or tablets. Holding a head-forward posture while looking down at your devices for long periods can cause painful muscle strains in the short term and may cause disc or joint injuries in the long term.

Walk around

Walk around the office every half an hour to reduce the risk of getting back, neck, and shoulder pain from sitting. It can also stretch away your muscles from getting ache and tight. If you an easy way to do this, you can set a silent alarm on your smartphone to get off every 30 minutes. It may not works every time but it set as a reminder that you’ve been sitting quite a long time if you skip the alarm a few times.

Give some of the tips a try, you may find it useful and experience a healthier and more productive day.