4 Ways To Improve Your Posture At Your Desk – And Why You Need To!

The position in which we work is very important as it helps to keep our body working as it should. Long term habits of hunching, slouching and overextending due to a poor ergonomic setup will start to cause problems for the body and symptoms will build up. It depends on each person and what condition their body is in, but most people are resilient, and symptoms may take a long time to develop – but when they do, they can have a huge impact on everyday life.

In the office there are a few essential things that can help you improve your working position including a good supportive seat which has a height adjustable back rest, height adjustable seat, and a good lumbar support. The screen you work off should be level with your eyes – the top third of the screen should be eye height. Your mouse and keyboard should be close to you so that your elbows remain in line with your shoulders, to prevent overreaching.

When working from home or away from the office, you need to consider how you setup your working position. Always choose a higher working platform to bring your screen to eye height. If you do have to work in varied locations think about the time you are spending in a potential poor position, such as your laptop on a low table in a café or slumped on the sofa with the laptop on your legs. Consider getting equipment to convert your laptop to a more posture friendly setup. Essentials would be a laptop stand, wireless keyboard and mouse.

Visit https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ck1.pdf for a display screen equipment checklist to keep you right.

We weren’t designed to sit for long periods, but we were designed to move for long periods. Our body responds well to movement but breaks down when we don’t move it enough.

The key to remaining physically healthy if you have a sedentary job is to adhere to all of the points in this blog, but most importantly make your body do something different to what it does every day – by doing exercise! The best exercise to improve resilience and body function for most people is to do some form of strength training. It improves your muscle mass, strength and joint health – all things which can suffer when you remain immobile all day!

It is also essential that you implement a good stretching routine into your day as you can spend over 5 hours sitting at a desk for work. Sitting for this length of time can shorten specific muscles and cause imbalances which are not good for the body. When performing a static stretch to elongate an overactive or tight muscle, we advise to hold each stretch for a minimum of 40 seconds. Anything less that that amount of time will not allow the muscle fibers and tissues adequate time to release tension and reach the desired length.