Tips For Maintaining Correct Posture While Using A Computer
February 18th, 2010 | Author: Craig
While the computer age has done wonders for our society in general, it certainly hasn’t done us back pain sufferers any favors. More and more of us are spending time in front of a pc, whether it be for work or just surfing the world wide web, in fact I’m not physic but I bet you are sitting in front of a computer screen right now 
. Seriously though, it can play absolute havoc with our back, neck and shoulders but if you can follow these tips I’m sure that your suffering will be limited.
- An adjustable chair with good back support is a must. If your chair is lacking in back support a small pillow placed in the small of your back can help and if you already have a back complaint a kneeling chair may also be a good option as they transfer your bodies weight from your lower spine and hips to your legs. They can take a while to get used to though!
- Have your chair set a height that allows your feet to rest flat on the floor with your knees slightly higher or level with your hips. If you find the chair is to high use a platform to support your feet. Do Not tuck your feet under the chair!
- A chair that reclines slightly is also useful in moving your body’s weight on to the back rest rather than your spine taking all of the weight. Also keep the chair close to the desk to help maintain a more upright position.
- Keep your head up and avoid leaning forward. Place any typing material on an angle rather than flat on the desk where you have to continually lean forward to read them.
- Position the top of your screen just below eye level and close enough so that you don’t have to lean forward or move your head in any way to read it and have enough room in front and beside your keyboard to rest your hands and wrists. Your shoulders should be able to ‘hang’ loosely without any muscle tension.
- Above all, take frequent breaks away from your desk. The human body is not designed to sit idle in one place for any great length of time. Once muscle fatigue sets in it is almost impossible to maintain good posture. Even if you can manage two minutes every hour away from your desk, preferably walking rather than just standing you will feel a lot better for it.
I find it takes a lot of concentration to maintain good posture for any length of time when I’m working at my computer and quite often I resort to using an alarm clock to remind me that it is time to get up and go for a walk. All of the other tips mentioned do help to some degree but I find that there is no substitute for taking a break and stretching and walking around. I’d love to hear from you if you have any other tips for limiting your pain while sitting for long periods of time.
Take Care,
Craig
Excellent advice.
Regarding the advice for frequent breaks, while 2 minutes per hour seems sufficient, I recommend to all my patients with sitting issues to take a break every 20 minutes (even if it just for a few seconds). The posterior longitudinal ligament (PLL)supports the backside of the disc (much like the back rest on the chair supports the back) and this ligament (PLL) fatigues every 20 minutes leaving the disc unsupported. Adhering to this schedule will likely offer the best back pain relief.
Performing Brugger’s postural relief position during this break is recommended as well.
Great article. As a chiropractor, I am always amazed to see the posture of people that work in office type settings. The lower back pain that they experience is in large part to not following the advice from this article. Thanks for the post.
I found this very informative. I am doing some research for AskTheChiropractor.Us and find that the topic of posture and chair has a great deal to do with preventing alignment problems. I advise graduate students who get stuck while working on their dissertations and many complain of stress and back pain/strain because of sitting at the computer so much. Thanks for your informative post.
Physical therapy is the major component of the orthopedist’s “conservative” approach to thoracic back pain patients as a management and as prophylaxis. Our experience is that the results are sometimes disappointing in chronic back patients though.
Great advice for imrpoving and maintaining posture. Prevention is always a much more effective solution than trying to fix problems. Good post.
It’s really a great post here , i found all 6 points here, the best way of back pain prevention.
You wrote great advices but I tried everything but I have still pain after long office hours. The pain still is not severe and that’s why don’t won’t to use any medication for now. For this purpose I bought those chairs when you sit with your knees. I feel better for now but still don’t know how will behave in long run.
Alfredo
Great article! Love your blog! An ounce of prevention….
Nice website! I have recently discovered essential oils for the ease of backpain. I have had family members swear by it. Check it out if you get a chance!
-Thanks,
Amy
Great advice! BioVeda Health and Wellness has a great article about back Pain!
http://biovedawellness.com/2010/06/back-pain-and-chiropractic-care/