Saturday 12th October
As we settle into this working from home set-up, it’s likely that we have got into some sort of routine with how we sit throughout our day in our home office. But is your desk set-up actually good for your body? Try these simple tips to help if you’re working from home.
Sit deeply onto your chair, so your back is flat against the backrest
If your chair does not have a lumbar support, then you can put a small pillow behind the small of your back
There should be a few inches between the back of your knees and the edge of the chair (if you have an adjustable chair, there is often a lever where you can move the seat pad forward or back, to create this position)
When you are sat at the desk, pull yourself in as close as possible
Adjust the armrests so they support your forearms when your shoulders are in a relaxed position
Your keyboard and mouse should be close enough so that you can maintain your arms on the arm rest and avoid over-reaching
Adjust the height of the chair so the armrests are at the level with the top of your desk
Your feet should touch the floor when the armrests are level with the desk (if they don’t then adjust the height of the desk or place a footrest under your desk to raise your feet)
Perhaps invest in an ergonomic chair which allows you to adjust the various chair supports to suits your body. If you don’t have access to an ergonomic chair, you can make similar adjustments by adding pillows or put your feet on a footstool to re-create the supports.
Have you gone from an ergonomic work chair, desk and monitor to working from your laptop on your kitchen table or even worse… your sofa? There are many reasons that working from the sofa or kitchen table seem fine in the moment, but when you add up the time you spent slouched over it can cause some issues. Also, creating a dedicated environment creates a boundary. Your whole home isn’t turned into an office. Once your day is done, tidy away your work station and switch off without staring at your work for the rest of the evening.
If you were traveling to the office, you would allow yourself time in the morning to get showered and dressed, make yourself breakfast or tea/ coffee and commute to work. Yet a lot of us are ditching this routine meaning we are rolling out of bed and immediately opening up the laptop. Whatever your normal morning ritual, stick to it! Get up and get dressed. Give yourself time to have breakfast away from your laptop. Why not switch your morning commute time for a walk, say round the block and walk back home to arrive at ‘the office’?
Often when we are looking at a screen, for example a computer screen, we end up slouched over and looking down at our screen as we sit there for hours concentrating. When we have our heads in this position, it creates a lot of added stress on the neck. The muscles, joints and discs in the neck have to work harder to hold your neck, and in a potentially stressful position, which can then cause issues.
When you sit ready to work on your computer, close your eyes, get yourself comfortable in your chair, sit upright, shoulders relaxed and with a straight spine. Relax your breathing. When you open your eyes, your gaze should be at the top third of the screen you are looking at. If not, you need to raise your screen. If you are on a laptop, getting a separate screen can be very handy here. Sitting in a chair with a headrest can also be very beneficial.
Poor posture can affect you even when you are standing and sitting throughout your daily life. The most common change in posture that can affect your neck and possibly cause you pain, is the forward head position. With this, rather than having an upright posture where the ears are in-line with the shoulders, the head travels forward, chin jutting out, meaning the ears sit a lot further forward than the shoulders. To compensate for this, it is common to see rounding of the upper back and rounding of the shoulders.
