Sit at a desk all day long? Have shoulder and neck pain? These two questions tend to go hand in hand with each other. Sitting at a desk can be detrimental to your health in many ways, but the placement of your work materials is important. Here are a few easy changes that you can make to your desk:
1. Move your mouse: When your mouse is not placed properly, you have to strain to reach it. This will cause long-term strain to the muscles of the arm, shoulder, and neck. By simply placing it closer to you, without having to reach for it, your muscles will become more relaxed. If you are at your computer all day, consider purchasing a ball mouse, these are ideal for optimal hand positioning.
2. Adjust your armrests: If your chair has armrests, make sure they are parallel to the floor. Adjust them so that they keep your arms at a natural 90-degree angle.
3. Prop up your computer screen: Many times desk jobs include long, tedious hours staring at a computer screen. If this is you, check out to see the position of your monitor. The top of the screen should be roughly 2 inches above your eye level. Anything lower will cause you to have a strain on your neck muscles.
4. Feet flat on the floor: As tempting as it is to cross your legs try to avoid this at all costs. Crossing your legs causes an imbalance in your pelvis and hips. Which can, in turn, cause low back pain and interference to the nerves going to your digestive tract and reproductive organs.
4. Take breaks: Nobody should be sitting for hours at a time without getting up. Every ten to twenty minutes, get up and stretch. Take a short walk around the office. Anything that gets you up and moving! We love Stand Up! The Work Break Timer app, that allows you to set reminders throughout the day to remind you to get up and move around. Here is a list of our favorite desk stretches, make a habitat to start integrating these into your routine breaks.
5. See your chiropractor: When you sit for the majority of your day, your body tends to be misaligned. You start to develop improper motion, strained muscles and don’t feel your best. By having a chiropractor remove misalignments to your spine, you will be feeling good and working better than you ever have before!
Our Fort Collins Chiropractors are here to help. They can also come to your work and check out your ergonomics for you and your entire staff. Our doctors love to bring new and beneficial information to peoples’ workspaces and offices, bring everyone a free lunch, and spread wellness to the Fort Collins community. If this sounds like something you would like to do for your office, contact Impact Chiropractic at (970) 223-5501.
