How To Sit At Your Computer

computer and neck painMillions of people have jobs that require them to sit at a desk or computer for hours every day. While this is not as demanding as someone who lifts or bends all day, prolonged sitting can cause muscle and structural imbalances of the spine that produce neck, shoulder, low back or leg pain.

While you may not be able to change your job, there are some simple adjustments you may be able to do to your workstation to lesson the impact.

  1. Find a good chair. Not every type of chair works well for computer /deskwork. Each person is different, so you should try to get a chair that fits your body proportions.  To be the most effective, a chair should be adjustable in height and have decent low back (lumbar) support.
  2. Use the chair back. Speaking of chair back, you should sit with your back firmly against the support. Your back should be kept in a normal upright position. You should not sit on the edge of the seat. Also, do not sit hunch over or slouch down over the keyboard.
  3. Put your computer/monitor about 2-3 inches above eye level. This will help you maintain an upright posture and avoid hunching over.
  4. Keep your monitor at an arms length distance.  If you need to look at documents, use a holder at the same level as the computer monitor.
  5. Keep your knees slightly above your hips. This position allows for more relaxed pelvic and low back muscles and maintains a more normal low back curve. If you have to, use a footrest, such as old phone books, to elevate your knees.
  6. Keep your elbows relaxed and bent at about 90 degrees. This position helps keep the muscles of your shoulders and arms relaxed. If possible, tilt the front of your keyboard down and away from you. This provides a more natural position for the wrists and helps to prevent the prolonged compression of the nerves and tendons.

If these changes do not relieve your neck or low back pain, you may need the help that chiropractors offer. After time, our ligaments and muscles stretch, allowing subtle spinal joint misalignment and loss of normal motion. This then creates internal joint stress that begins to break down the joint. Eventually it produces inflammation and pain.

Chiropractors are experts in detecting these misalignment’s and relieving the pain they cause. If sitting at your computer has become a pain in the neck, call us today at (314) 731-4383 and schedule your relief! Not only can we help with the pain, we can provide simple exercises to help counter the stress of prolonged sitting.