Improving Your Posture Whilst Working

Whether you work from home or in an office, if you spend the majority of your day sitting at a desk, you may experience various aches and pains. The majority of people don’t think about their poor posture whilst they’re working and it’s likely that without even realising you will be slumped over your desk. Causing bad posture can take its toll on your weaker muscles and joints, and you should really try to think about how you sit whilst you’re at work.

If you’ve never really considered whether you’re sitting correctly at your desk and you’re curious about what body posture, slouching or slumping can do to your body, keep reading today.

Common aches and pains for office workers

When you’re sitting down, incorrect bad posture will put more strain on your weak muscles and joints. The way people often sit whilst they’re working at a desk can cause poor posture muscle tensions and it is really common for office workers to experience problems with their backs and necks, in particular.

Even if you have an ergonomic chair, desk and laptop stand, sitting at your workstation all day can still cause you to experience poor posture, aches and pains throughout your body. Overworking your muscles and placing them under unnecessary stress by sitting incorrectly can have a knock-on effect on your standing proper posture too and can cause postural imbalance, and lots of people experience health problems simply because they’re slumping over their keyboard whilst working.

It can be easy to overlook the occasional lower back pain or neck pain that you experience whilst you’re working but if you don’t maintain proper posture, the way you sit can end up causing real damage over time. So, it’s beneficial to try strengthening exercises and this is something that an experienced chiropractor for posture will be able to assist you with at a chiropractic care clinic.

Improving your desk posture

Changing your posture whilst you’re working might feel quite strange to start with and it can take a while for the correct good posture to feel comfortable as a at home chiropractic treatment. There are lots of small changes you can make on a day-to-day basis to improve your good posture when you’re sitting at your desk and here are some different things to try;

• Keep your feet flat on the floor

Lots of people sit with their knees or ankles crossed, but to prevent aches and pains, you should try to sit with your feet flat on the floor. If you can, adjust the height of your chair to make this more comfortable, you could even try using a footrest as well.

• Always sit back in your chair

When slouching, it’s unlikely that your back and buttocks will be against the back of your chair, and this is key for maintaining good posture. Move yourself back in your chair and ensure you’re resting your back against the backrest. You can try using a cushion if your back doesn’t naturally meet the chair too, this can help to support your lower back.

• Try to sit up straight

This might seem obvious, but very few people actually sit up straight whilst they’re working. Whether your shoulders are hunched or you’re leaning forward over your keyboard, adjust your good posture and try to keep your ears, shoulders and hips aligned.

• Don’t lean to one side

If your office chair has armrests, which can be really beneficial when used correctly, try to get out of the habit of leaning into one of these rests more than the other. To help fix bad posture, you should try to evenly distribute your weight through both of your hips. You can use your armrests for support, but try not to rely on them.

• Move your monitor/laptop

Ideally, the screen you’re using should be at a comfortable height to prevent you from poking your chin and straining your neck whilst working. Your screen should be around 20 inches away from your face and the top third of the screen should be at eye level.

Booking an appointment at a local chiropractor clinic

If you’re experiencing aches and pains that are caused by the way you sit at your desk, hopefully, the information above will be beneficial. Focusing on your postural problems whilst you’re working and making some simple changes can have a big difference, and if you’re struggling with improving poor posture, a chiropractor can help so don’t hesitate to contact a chiropractor to achieve a healthy posture and gain many health benefits from a treatment plan made for you.

Here at ChiroCulture, we offer a free 15-minute posture screen and we can help you to understand more about the way you naturally sit and stand. By analysing multiple poor posture points, we can build a chiropractic adjustment treatment program that is tailored to your body and help you to improve the proper alignment, mobility and strength of your spine. At our chiropractic therapy clinic, we can help to ease your overactive muscles and your body’s joints too with chiropractic adjustments and relief care, and it’s always our aim to give our patients the best results in the quickest amount of time. To find out more about our chiropractic adjustments at ChiroCulture and other chiropractic care, feel free to get in touch with us today.