Most of us who work and play on PCs at some time in our lives will possibly suffer from a bad back and/or neck, RSI (repetitive strain injury)or even eyestrain, yes long term use can seriously damage your health. I have worked and played on PCs for over 8 years and up until the last 2 years have suffered from a bad back and neck caused by sitting incorrectly in front of my work and home PC for too long. I decided to do something about it as the pain mainly in my upper back was getting unbearable. I read many books on back pain and with the help of my physio and yoga exercises managed to fix my back problem. Unfortunately the damage had already been done and although the back exercises and yoga were a big help, my back had been weakened, and even today if I do not sit correctly either at work or at home the pain can come back. Even though I have weight trained for many years and keep fit, this did not seem to help my back, the reason for this is that weight training strengthens and builds your big muscles and not your smaller core muscles. Why I am writing this you may ask? In hope that you learn from my mistakes. As I wrote earlier the main reason we suffer from a bad back is sitting incorrectly for too long, our bodies were not designed to sit for long periods. Below are my tips for sitting correctly in front of your PC/monitor.
1. Your chair should be high enough so that your arms are at right angles as you type, your thighs should be parallel to the floor, and your feet should be about shoulder width apart and flat on the floor. If they are not, your chair should be height adjustable so that you can correct your sitting posture. Your chair should be comfortable with a good lumbar support and preferably without arm rests as the make your elbows uncomfortable and encourage bad posture, most chairs don’t come with a good lumbar support but you can buy them, do a search on Google and you will be able to find a website that sells them.
2. Your back and neck should be straight and not leaning forward, and if possible your lower back should be supported by the lumbar support, never let your head fall forward as this is what causes your upper back muscles to eventually tighten up and become painful.
3. The top of your monitor should be at eye level as this helps to keep your back straight. If it is too low and you cannot heighten it put it on some books.
4. Try and either have a break every hour even if it’s only for 5 minutes, or do something else so that you are not constantly sitting in the same position and staring at your screen. I know this maybe hard to do at work, it is sometimes for me as it can be really busy, but even if you just stand up and having a little stretch. As I wrote earlier we are not designed to sit still for long periods of time. I have set up a reminder in Microsoft Outlook to come on every hour as sometimes you can forget about the time.
The above will also help you with RSI and eyestrain, however I will write more about these two later, as I have some excellent exercises to help with these problems.
I hope this has helped you, I know all about back pain and it is no laughing matter. If you need anymore information please contact me and I will do what I can.
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