Improve your sitting postures in Office
Did you ever consider why we humans are born with a curved spine?
Why is it so, that whenever we get strain in our neck we try to sleep without pillow support and try to attain the normal, neutral posture?
The answer to these questions is very simple. Whenever we want to get relief from the pain we automatically try to obtain our natural, neutral form in which we were born. Our spine has curves and whenever we try to sit, sleep in the wrong manner, we might affect ourselves with those bad postures.
If you are among those people who sit for long hours on their seat and in front of their laptops. Days spent primarily in today’s era have raised the risk of chronic pain, musculoskeletal disorders, and injuries which can affect your whole life, health, and productivity.
To prevent these chronic pain and strain in the muscles, it is important to implement healthy workplace habits and knowing how to sit properly in a chair so that you can improve your posture throughout the day.
First of all, it is very important to understand your posture. What is wrong in the posture and the way you sit?
Take a look into your daily posture while sitting in front of a mirror and look at what can be corrected. If you are sitting straight with the palm facing down on the thighs with both the thumbs seeing forward, then this posture is correct. If this is not the posture then you should give a thought about it and correct it.
Watch Out for the Signs:
Bad posture can lead to many deteriorating effects, including a lack of confidence, productivity, and lethargies. However, the most common signs of bad posture are back pain, neck pain, stiffness, headaches, lack of balance. You might suddenly feel the back pain and neck stiffness in the initial days. The pain usually starts from the neck and moves downwards into the upper and then towards the lower spine finally reaches the legs. The best option to avoid this is an ergonomic chair with the correct posture while sitting for long hours in the office.
Researchers have found that regardless of how much you stay fit and healthy by doing exercise you still can be at the risk of disease and chronic pain if you do not sit while maintaining the proper posture. Some of the symptoms seen are:
- Slouching occurs when you stay seated and keep your spine misaligned.
- Poor neck station set up can cause neck-straining (if your chair and computer level are not at the same level).
- Habits like crossing your legs can lead to misaligned hip joints.
- The flow of nutrients from the blood to the spinal disc will be restricted.
- Tearing of the disk, muscular tissues.
Sometimes even after correcting the wrong posture, we might feel that the pain is gone, but sitting in the wrong postures for months/year can cause our body some irreplaceable damages which can not be cured.
What is Good Posture to Sit in a Chair?
A correct posture is a position of the body that stands in the space, a good posture is a posture that respects the natural position of the joints, muscles, and spine. Be it standing, walking, sleeping, sitting, cooking, or even when you watch TV.
In terms of sitting position, the ideal position is the one that allows the main joints of the body to be in a natural manner, without creating any tension, stress, the strain on your neck, spine, legs.
To tell you in simple words, you should sit according to the shape of your spine, the human spine has three curves that should be maintained while sitting.
How to Sit in Office Chair
To prevent the chronic neck and back pain and many other health issues associated with the desk work, it is important to better work ergonomics and to know the best posture to sit in an office chair. Ergonomics means the practice of fitting your job to your body. This means tailoring not just only your desk and your laptop to your body but also the entire range of working habits as well.
Some good posture tips to reduce pain and to improve total body health are as follows:
- Neutral posture practice: Neutral posture is the spine’s natural alignment position- a posture that is completely straight from head to toe. When we sit inappropriately we may slouch, hunch, which can cause spinal cord compression, muscle tension which can lead to life long problems in our body. While sitting in your office in front of your desk do keep these tips and apply it for a better posture:
- Keep your computer monitor at your eye level so that your head does not tilt, which is good for your neck.
- The shoulder has to be pulled back to maintain the straight-line posture of your spine.
- Your feet should rest on the straight, flat ground- avoid crossing your ankles/ legs.
- Use a lumbar support tool to help keep your upper back straight and prevent slouching.
Proper work ergonomics is built around the neutral posture concept, supporting it through healthier habits and the right wellness products. By adhering to the neutral posture as often as possible at work, you can take small breaks in between the sitting to allow the better blood circulation in the body. By doing this you can greatly reduce the chance of injury and from developing chronic pain.
Keep a record when your back, neck hurts:
In order to prevent spine problems, it is important to bring awareness to your daily well being. Monitor your ongoing symptoms such as stiffness, soreness, or stress/ strain on your neck, back, or shoulders. Making a note of all of them will help you to determine the pattern in your habit and routine, which may be the igniting factor of the pain in your body.
With continuous tracking, you may start to notice that your pain is worse on certain days or at certain times of the day. With all this information collectively you can work on your posture and daily routine and can prevent the pain.
Get some Movement Breaks:
One of the crucial reasons why desk work is tied to back pain and chronic disease is because it limits the movement of our body, by sitting for long hours we start to slouch or hunch which in the continuation leads to the misalignment of the back and also poor blood circulation in the body.
Studies have found that regular movement breaks in every 30 minutes greatly reduces the health risk posed by sitting. Those who take less frequent breaks from sitting might suffer regular lower back pain as compared to those who take regular breaks.
To reduce the health risk of sedentary work, it is important to take breaks and relax, stretch your body to avoid stiffness, pain in the body. A brisk walk around the room can help you boost your circulation and energy.
Set Reminders:
It can be difficult to remember to take regular movement breaks, even with the best intentions. Try to set a reminder and take out some time for yourself and for your body. This habit is required to be built.
You can set a timer for 30 minutes for doing work once that is over, set another one for 5-10 minutes as a break, and move your body. Apart from the body movement, you can also mark small reminders for neck rotation, ankle rotation, shoulder movement exercises, these exercises can be done while you are sitting.
Do not stretch or rotate your neck, shoulders, ankles too hard. Just a light rotatory movement will be beneficial.
Use Ergonomic Supports:
Maintaining a neutral posture while sitting at a desk can be tough, we are now used to sitting in a bad sitting posture. There are several tools, products that help you to sit straight by supporting your spine and aligning it straight. These products help you to maintain an ergonomic posture. Relax your back with the ergonomic chair which comes with the headrest, armrest, and footrest. Giving rest to the neck or using the chair with the neck and arm support not just helps in the neck, armrest but also relaxes the shoulders. If the chair does not have a footrest, you can have your own small stool which supports your foot and helps you in maintaining good posture throughout the day.
Create a perfect Ergonomic Workstation:
Try to have a soft cushion seat which is not too hard for your buttocks. The laptop should be in a straight line with your eye, the chair should be adjusted accordingly. The workstation should be designed as it should allow:
- Full range of the motion of your desktop/laptop.
- Items should be at arm’s reach.
- Adequate leg and foot space for their comfort.
- Alleviating Hunched posture.
An ergonomic should be according to your body type.