The most common work-related disability is back pain caused by sitting at a computer with poor posture. There are many reasons how this happens. However, all of them can be described under one term: repetitive strain injuries. To understand how to improve your poor posture and decrease your pain, it’s very important to understand what a repetitive strain injury is first.
Also known as RSI, repetitive strain injuries cause pain or impairment of muscles or tendons when they have been used over and over for long periods of time. Sitting at a computer with poor posture puts a huge amount of stress on a body. When in that poor posture for extended periods of time every day, repetitive strain injuries become a painful, chronic work-related disability.
Can sitting at a computer cause back pain?
Before we go buy a standing desk, before we change the ergonomic set up of our current work environment, it’s very important that we understand what the real enemy is when it comes to pain caused by sitting at a desk and staring at a computer screen. If we go from sitting 40 hours per week, to using a standing desk 40 hours per week, we will still have injuries. The standing injuries will just be different compared to the ones we accumulated from our sitting posture.
When we sit, our hip flexors are typically tight and compressed. If switch to a standing desk 40 hours per week, we could easily overextend those same hip flexors. Sitting at a desktop computer is not the enemy. Repetitive strain injuries are the enemy. These injuries are caused by holding our muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the same position for long periods of time.
Switch Your Working Environments
The key to success for me has been to switch up my work environments as much as possible. I have an adjustable standing desk. It goes low enough to be able to use as a standard desk for normal sitting posture. I’ll do that for an hour at the most. Then, I’ll raise the desk and work in a standing position. Once I get tired from standing, I’ll lower the desk a little and sit on a stool. Finally, I have the luxury of working from home, so I’ll use my laptop and work in a recliner.
A recliner may seem like a counterproductive work environment, but I’m a big fan of working in a reclined position. It takes minimal muscle activation to sit in a recliner. Most importantly, it’s a refreshing sitting posture for my spinal ligaments and strain throughout my back decreases greatly. This allows me to be more mentally focused and to get more work done. I just make sure that my neck is in a good position and my eyes are not straining from looking at the laptop computer screen. To avoid holding my body in the same position for long periods of time, I switch through these 4 positions multiple times throughout the day.
My story is based on my own experience. I sat at a desktop computer for many years, endured multiple repetitive strain injuries, then obsessively learned ways to correct them with good posture. The different ways I improved my poor posture aren’t medical advice. Choose what info could be helpful for you and your situation. Talk with your doctor and be the strongest advocate possible for your own health.
Sitting at a computer can definitely cause back pain.
When I used to sit with poor posture, I would overstretch the spinal ligaments, which would cause pain in multiples areas. Holding any of our muscles and tendons with poor posture is not a good thing. Holding them in this compromising position for long periods of time makes it much worse. However, we can control how much back pain sitting causes us. We do this by paying attention to the positioning of our bodies and how long we are in these prolonged positions.
Although back pain caused by sitting at a computer can seem like a very complex issue, what causes it and why it happens can be broken down into two simple categories of poor posture errors. The most common error when sitting at a computer is when you slouch forward in your chair. The other less common error, yet still very destructive, is sitting up too straight in an overextended position. Let’s go over both of these.
Back pain is caused when you slouch forward in your chair
This is the most common cause of back pain when sitting at a computer desk. When slouching forward, we overstretch the spinal ligaments, which is dangerously destructive to our bodies. When something is physically in front of us that we are touching (like a computer or work surface), the natural tendency is to lean forward, often way too far forward.
Traditional office chairs are a common cause to make this worse because the chair is usually too deep. It’s impossible to make an ergonomic chair that will fit both tall and short people equally well. So, companies make traditional office chairs that will fit very tall people comfortably. The short (and average height) people are left to suffer and slouch forward in their chair, creating destructive habits. The more the chair is too deep, the more we have to lean forward to reach our computer work area.
When you slouch forward in your chair, it causes back pain because the muscles and tendons of the back are overextended in an incorrect, unnatural position. The normal anatomy of the back is affected in a big way. The back muscles will abnormally lengthen while getting tighter and tighter over time. They will become weaker and less flexible.
Back pain is caused when you sit up too straight
This may sound strange, but it’s very possible to sit up too straight. This is the lesser common type of back pain caused by sitting at a computer with poor posture. However, it can lead to very painful, chronic repetitive strain injuries. The upper body needs to be at a 90-degree angle from the floor. If you’re leaning back at all past this 90-degree angle, it will overuse the back muscles and tendons.
For example, think about doing a bicep curl with a very light weight, then holding that bicep curl at the top for an hour. Comparatively, that’s how much your back muscles are working when you are overextended at a computer for an hour.
Sitting up too straight causes back pain because the vertebrae of the spine are overextended, which leads to tendons and muscles in the back being overextended as well. The normal anatomy of the back will eventually change with an overextended spine. The back muscles will shorten and get tighter. They will also become weaker and less flexible.
How to Prevent Back Pain When Using a Computer
There are many ways to help prevent computer work-related back pain. Keep in mind, a full-time employee sits at a computer 40 hours a week. That’s 2,000 hours per year. Once you multiply 2,000 by how many years you’ve been working, that equals the amount of stress on your muscles and tendons you’re trying to undo. It won’t get done overnight. Be patient. Healing your body is a long-term process. Keep a mindset of practicing small, good habits consistently every day. Here are a few good habits to get started with today.
Stack the spine correctly
Like we’ve covered already, the first step is not to slouch forward in your chair. The second step is not to sit up too straight and overextend the spine. We need to find a comfortable balance between these two poor posture positions.
Photo by Joyce McCown via Unsplash
The spine has a natural “S” curve to it. The old school term “sit up straight” is not the best advice. If our spine is “straight”, we are overextending muscles and tendons in our back. You can learn more about the natural curve of the spine in my free Computer Posture Checklist. We’ll go over that at the end of this article.
Slide your rear end to the back of the chair
If your rear end is slid to the back of the chair, you’ll be much less likely to slouch forward in your chair. You’ll also be less likely to overextend your upper body more than a 90-degree angle to the floor. Plus, use the back of your chair to take a significant amount of stress off your muscles and tendons. Gravity is going to have less of an effect on our body if we take advantage of that back support of the chair. This will decrease our chances of having back pain.
As I covered earlier in this article, traditional office chairs are just not a good fit for most people. Typically, the chair is too deep. This is very often the case. I’m 6’3″ tall and the chair has even been too deep for me many times. When this is the case, it’s a great move to invest in a ergonomic chair that fits you better.
Invest in an ergonomic chair
Multiple variables need to be considered when it comes to an ergonomic chair that fits well. For example, length of torso, length of arms and legs, height of eye level, height of work surface, and the amount of lumbar support needed are all very important factors. Get a good understanding of the Computer Posture Checklist (at the end of this article) before investing in your own ergonomic chair.
Sit with both balance and strength
Take a quick break to reset and close your eyes. Forget about the distractions around you. Pretend your work area isn’t in front of you. It’s just you and your chair. Visualize your upper body balancing on that chair. It’s not a strength exercise. It’s a balancing act. The muscles in your abdomen should be working the same amount as the muscles in your lower back. They should all be working the minimal amount required to support your torso comfortably.
Imagine your upper body as a tree swaying in the wind with balance. Comparatively, it’s not a strong brick building that isn’t moving at all. Doing this will result in less back pain because you are activating less muscles and tendons throughout the prolonged periods of time you sit a your computer.
Take short breaks often
I never sit at a computer for more that an hour. That’s just my personal preference. My creativity has usually faded a good amount by then. My poor posture is definitely in full effect after an hour. Ideally, I’ll only sit at a desk for about 30 minutes at a time max. I’ll take a quick break to get something accomplished that is not work-related. I might eat, drink, stretch, exercise, or get something productive done quickly around my apartment (laundry, dishes, etc).
Taking short breaks will give your muscles and tendons a break from the intense amount of stress repetitive strain puts on your body. These short breaks not only energize me when I get back to my computer work area, they reignite my mental focus, refresh my posture, and decrease my chance of having back pain.
Do stretching exercises at your desk
During my breaks, I’ll definitely stand up and walk around at the very least. I also like to stretch out my hamstrings by touching my toes. If I hold it, I can also let the stretch gradually move into my lower back. After that, I’ll grab onto a door or a wall and slowly twist my upper body and hold that in each direction. I usually like to finish up with some slow neck rolls in each direction. Your neck and shoulders hold a large amount of stress while sitting at a computer. Everything in your body is connected. The connection of these muscles and tendons is multiplied many times over when repetitive stress is a factor. Therefore, it’s good to not only pay attention to your back, but also to your neck and shoulders, as well as your arms and legs when taking a break.
Work in different positions throughout the day
When I get back to my desk, I’ll work in a different position than I was just working in. Right now, I’m at a my standing work area. Before I took my last break, I was sitting in an ergonomic chair at a lower work area. I’ve also sat on a swiss exercise ball before to change it up. It kept my legs active while I was working and took some of the stress off of my back. The ergonomic chair or a swiss exercise ball can be used at the same computer work area. I also sit in a recliner sometimes. As long as you can stay productive, this is a great way to work on a laptop while activating the minimal amount of stress on your muscles.
Whatever your work area is, try to keep the top of your monitor at eye level or below, but not too far below. Looking too high or too low at our monitor is a sure way to cause neck pain, which can eventually lead to back pain.
Use an adjustable computer desk
You can buy one or you can create one yourself. You don’t necessarily have to be an engineer to do it. I’ve used the same work surface for different working positions before. When standing, just be creative with what you use to raise your keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The keyboard and mouse should always be on a work surface at the same level as the elbows. The top of your monitor should always be close to eye level. If the monitor is too low or too high, you could overstretch the spinal ligaments. The amount of stress it puts on your neck could lead to easily avoidable back pain. If you work on a laptop, buying a monitor to mirror your work on would be ideal.
Download your free ebook
I wrote a free ebook titled 3 Ways to Improve Computer Posture Immediately! This book explains the 3 most painful computer posture mistakes I used to make. Then, it teaches how to fix those mistakes immediately. Click here to download your copy.
Thank you
If you’re still reading this article, you should be extremely proud of yourself. You’re taking action toward fixing your health problems, while improving your quality of life. That’s a very powerful thing.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, my story is based on my own experience. Sitting at a computer with poor posture destroyed my body. I obsessively learned many different techniques to improve my poor posture and decrease my back pain caused by sitting at a computer. I’m sharing my experience through my website and I hope you’ve enjoyed it so far.
All of my articles and newsletters are available at no cost. Feel free to share this page with a friend or family member who sits at a computer desk for a living.
My experience isn’t medical advice. Choose what info could be helpful for you and your situation. Talk with your doctor and be the strongest advocate possible for your own health.
As always, thank you for your interest in sitting posture.
Todd Bowen
P.S. If this article was helpful, check out my book titled “45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture.” It’s available in both digital and paperback versions.
>>> Click here to pick up your copy
This book explains how to improve your posture through different variables of health and wellness. These include sitting posture, standing posture, sleep, hydration, and breathing. Poor posture is not just how we sit at a computer. The health habits we practice, 24 hours a day, are directly related to how good (or bad) our computer posture is.
Go to SittingPosture.com/book to learn more.