Before and After
Individual results may vary
Case Study: Poor posture, lower back pain and knee pain due to long periods of standing.
Setting Up Your Office Space for Improved Posture
Improve your posture while you work! An ergonomically set up work station can dramatically help improve your posture so that you can work effectively and pain free.
If you work in an office setting, you probably spend a lot of time sitting behind a desk in front of your computer. This constant sitting can often result in slouching and poor posture. While it may not appear to be unhealthy, this can actually lead to several problems including tense muscles, pinched nerves and even carpel tunnel syndrome.
To prevent these injuries and problems, it is very important to make sure that your office space is set up to help improve your posture and keep you injury free. Here are a few ergonomic tips and suggestions that will help you set up your office space for improved posture.
Along with the following ergonomic tips and suggestions, consider contacting the Posture Experts at Spine and Health in North Sydney or Crows Nest for a posture assessment. We can fix your posture so that you can work effectively and without pain.
- Be Aware of How You Sit
Pull your chair in so you can sit as close to your desk as possible, and make sure your upper arms are parallel to your spine. Also, when your hands are placed on your work surface, your elbows should be at a 90-degree angle. Your legs should be bent at the knees and your feet should sit flat on the floor. If possible, try to get up and stretch often. Avoid sitting at the edge of your seat, as this can place unnecessary stress on the lumbar discs. Sit as far back in your chair as possible.
- Mouse and Keyboard Placement
It may sound very simple, but the placement of your mouse and keyboard is very crucial in giving you a healthy working environment. The alphanumeric area of your keyboard should be kept centered on your desk so that the “B” key is directly in front of you. Also, the mouse should be kept at the same height and as close to the keyboard as possible so that you do not need to bend your wrists when typing. If your desk has a keyboard tray, make sure your mouse is on the tray with your keyboard.
- Monitor Placement
The placement of your monitor is another important factor in setting up a posture friendly workspace. Your eye level should be about three inches down from the top of the monitor casing. Most monitors allow for only minimal adjusting, so you may want to invest in or make your own monitor stand. Your monitor should be about an arm’s length away from you while you are working with no glare. You may need to adjust your lighting to minimize glare or tilt your computer slightly up or down.
A few of these ergonomic changes in and around your workspace can go a long way in improving your posture and preventing muscle strain or injury. It is very important to always be mindful of your posture so that you will be able to benefit from your properly set-up workspace. Avoid slouching, keep your elbows close to your body, and try to take breaks when possible. This is incredibly important if you spend a lot of time sitting at a desk during the day.
As well as this, consider posture therapy with one of our chiropractors at North Sydney and Crows Nest Spine and Health to greatly reduce your chances of muscle strain and injury and more serious conditions such as arthritis and disc degeneration.
Healthy Bones, Healthy Spines!
Healthy Bones Action Week (3-9 August 2015) is here, and Spine and Health is encouraging people of all ages to protect their bones.
But how does chiropractic treatment affect bone health?
It all comes down to posture and the effect it can have on your bones. Poor posture increases the strain on your bones, discs and joints. This increased strain causes wear and tear on all your tissues including your bones AND is the number one cause of osteoarthritis in your spine. As Sydney’s posture chiropractors, we can help.
About 7 years ago Spine and Health built our own radiology centre, and x-ray all our new clients. This allows us to see and measure the osteoarthritis caused by poor posture. It’s shocking how much osteoarthritis we find in our clients’ spines. Correcting posture can halt the worsening of this condition, and sometimes even reverse it with regular treatment and exercise programs. If left untreated, poor posture can also lead to serious problems like degenerative disc disease.
BONE HEALTH AND POSTURE
Apart from poor posture, there are other factors that can result in a patient suffering from bone degeneration or osteoarthritis. Some of these may be repetitive stress to a joint or abnormal joint motion, a past traumatic event on the body, or age and genetic predisposition.
Your posture has a tremendous impact on the health of your joints. Consistently sitting in the wrong positions will place abnormal chronic stresses on your body and joints. Poor posture can cause the loss of the three natural curves of the spine (found in the neck, upper back and lower back) and place additional strain on your muscles as they compensate to take pressure off the joints.
If your head isn’t sitting above the shoulders, the muscles will try to help adjust the body by working harder and will become tired. The force from the head and neck will wear down the small joints of the neck, and can trigger early development of osteoarthritis. If you already have this condition, improper posture will speed up the degenerative process and cause more pain.
Poor posture doesn’t just play havoc with your bone health. We regularly see clients experiencing back and neck pain, headaches, fatigue and even problems with breathing and function of major organs.
WHY SEE SPINE AND HEALTH’S POSTURE CENTRE?
Our chiropractors can help diagnose and treat degenerative disc disease and osteoarthritis. The only way to see if you have osteoarthritis or bone degeneration is via x-ray. We can offer you a bulk-billed x-ray in our practice at the time of your consultation.
At your initial appointment with a posture chiropractor, we’ll go through your past medical history and determine areas of restricted joint motion, disc injury, muscle spasm, and ligament injury. We will also look at how you walk as well as your overall posture, helping us understand your body mechanics and how your spine moves.
Our x-rays also show if you have disc or joint issues in areas of the body apart from your spine, and even a short leg (which is actually quite common).
TREATMENT
Our treatment is unique. Spine and Health chiropractors are qualified in postural based chiropractic. Our goal is re-aligning the spine and joints of the body.
Our techniques can help increase mobility and range of motion, and reduce any pain. By restoring posture to a normal healthy range, we can relieve the pressure and inflammation bones may be causing on the joints and muscles.
When your body is aligned it takes pressure off areas of the body that are overworked to keep your body functioning with minimal pain. Having good posture will stop the fatigue and strain on your muscles, joints and bones, and reduce the risk and symptoms of osteoarthritis and disc degeneration.
What are you waiting for? Call our Posture Chiropractors today for an initial assessment, and take care your bone health!