This is Joe Tatta, Physical Therapist, helping you to move towards better health.
Today, I am going to give you a quick ergonomic assessment that you can take with you to your workplace to prevent pain.
I would like to give you a couple of basic tips.
Tip #1: When sitting in your chair, sit as far back as possible. I always recommend that you have a lumbar roll in your lower back. Even with the best ergonomic chairs I’ve seen, you will still need that lumbar roll to give better back support. Without that support, you really can’t have good posture. Once you have that lumbar support in your back, I would like you to focus on your posture between your shoulder and the top of your head.
Tip #2: The challenge of being on a computer is that you tend to lean forward and you round your upper back, getting this forward-looking head posture. You want to make sure you keep a nice good neutral alignment where your ear is lined up over your shoulder, and your shoulder is lined up over your hip.
Tip #3: Last but not least, think about is your hands. Your elbow should be about a 90-degree angle. It can be a little far forward or a little bit back but in general about 90 degrees. That’s the way your hands should rest on the keyboard. The biggest mistake I see people make has to do with the mouse use. When people go to use the mouse, if the mouse is too far away from them, they start to get a rounded posture which puts a lot of pressure on your neck as well as your shoulder.
So make sure you go for that alignment first. Ear over shoulder, shoulder over hip, elbow at about 90 degrees and check how you use the mouse.
Take these tips with you and try them in your office.
Share the information with a coworker who might have neck pain or back pain or maybe arm or wrist pain.
Give it a try, tell me how it went.
Was that helpful? I’d like to hear from you in the “Comments” section below. Please share this blog with your friends and your family and visit me at: http://www.drjoetatta.com and take the 7 Day Health Transformation Challenge.
To your health,
Joe Tatta, DPT
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