How many of us spend time sat down at a desk or dining table and type on a laptop or keyboard? Unless you are a complete technophobe, the answer is most of us. And even if you don’t work at a desk, there are plenty of people who sit for a living - think musicians and drivers to name a few.
For many, sitting takes up a large part of the day. Driving or getting the train to and from work, doing your work, eating three meals, watching the TV… Then repeat this process every working day – this is potentially A LOT of sitting! Now this much sitting is not ideal for any human being, but for a large majority it is a reality. If this is you, then sitting correctly is paramount to keeping your body from excess strain and possible injury.
Common habits
Let’s take your average desk or office worker and start by looking at some of the common habits they get themselves into with sitting:
• Slouching or rounding of the low back
• Rounding and hunching of the shoulders
• Forward head or poke neck posture
• Cocking back of the wrists
• Sitting with over-flexed hips
The first thing to remember is that gravity is constantly pulling us down to earth (unless you work in space of course). So having poor posture over the course of the day will put a great deal of stress on the joints and muscles that hold you upright. If you don’t look after them, injury will follow.
Tips and prevention
Here are some tips to follow to ensure a healthy posture when at work:
• Ensure the top of the screen in front of you is level or just below your eye level.
• Try to sit on your sitting bones (the ones deep into your buttocks) rather than slouching back on to your tail bone (the coccyx).
• Imagine a string attached to the top of your head which is constantly pulling you up - allow your spine to elongate and sit tall with shoulders relaxed.
• Let your arms sit naturally by your side with elbows bent to 90 degrees and wrists neutral.
• Make sure the angle between your torso and thighs (the hip joint) rests anywhere between 90-110 degrees (adjust your chair to suit or add a foot rest).
• Take regular breaks (we mean get up at least every 45 minutes and move around or stretch).
We recommend putting up a post-it note with the word ‘POSTURE’ written on it somewhere in front of you at eye level (remember screen height people!) or set an alarm to vibrate. This will remind you of all the above pointers and to stand up or move regularly throughout the day.