Computer posture can be very complex.
Like most people, I didn’t know what most terms meant either.
I finally learned them all when I took a class to be a Certified Posture Specialist.
But I couldn’t help to think…
Computer users need to understand posture terms in a simpler way.
This would help them decrease their computer-related pain.
I don’t write high-level articles, like a physical therapist or personal trainer would.
I write simple, easy to understand articles for the busy, athletic office worker.
I write for someone who wants to create an ergonomic desk, quickly and easily.
For the computer user who wants to improve their posture, at work and away from their desk.
Key Terms for Ideal Computer Posture
I write about high-performance habits for computer users.
I want my desk to be an asset that promotes good posture (as soon as I sit down).
I don’t want my desk to be a liability that breaks me, both physically and mentally.
I’ve fixed my chronic pain and excessive muscle tension.
I’ve corrected my computer posture.
I’ll lay out everything I’ve learned.
You can just show up with an open mind and consistent effort.
I try to provide the minimal amount of info, that’ll lead to the most results.
Think of this article as a dictionary for better computer posture, with improved work productivity.
What’s the difference between posture and ergonomics?
Posture
Posture is the position I hold my body in (at a computer, for example).
Maintaining good computer posture can be easier by:
- Adjusting my desk height, or chair height, until my elbow height is slightly above my desk level
- Adjusting my monitor height until the top of my screen is even with my eye level
- Always keeping my feet flat on the floor (or a footrest)
Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the study of efficiency in the workplace.
If a healthy habit makes me more efficient at work, I consider it an ergonomic variable. It doesn’t matter if that habit occurs at my desk, or away from it.
Posture is obviously an important variable of my ergonomics practice. But it’s not the only variable that determines how good (or bad) my computer posture is.
Here are the main ergonomic variables I pay close attention to:
- Posture
- Sleep quality
- Hydration
- Nutrition
- Breathwork
Computer Ergonomics Variables
Posture
Sitting is not the only enemy. Working in the same posture for long periods of time is the main enemy. That’s why I switch between different working postures, multiple times a day.
The different positions I work in are:
- Sitting on a chair
- Standing
- Sitting on a stool
- Reclined sitting posture
Sleep quality
The less sleep I get, the quicker I get tired at work the next day. This also causes my muscles to get tighter, causing my posture to suffer much quicker.
The better I sleep at night, the better my computer posture is the next day. This is why healthy sleep habits have improved my computer ergonomics significantly.
Hydration
I used to make these hydration mistakes while sitting at my computer:
- Drinking tap water
- Drinking ultra-purified water that contained no minerals
- Eating foods with excessive artificial sugar
- Drinking excessive amounts of caffeine
Nowadays, I’ve cleaned up my hydration habits.
- I don’t drink caffeine
- I keep my sugar intake to a minimum
- When I do eat sugar, it’s from a natural source (not artificial)
- I drink water that’s been filtered with reverse osmosis. I bought a small filter that sits on my counter top (which I fill up with tap water). I got it on sale from Amazon for $320 (not paid promotion). The filter also remineralizes my drinking water. Because reverse osmosis does a great job of getting the chemicals out of my water. But it also filters out healthy minerals.
When it comes to computer posture, I try to stack as many odds in my favor as possible. Drinking an adequate amount of water is critical to my posture quality.
Nutrition
I’m usually interested in saving a dollar. But investing money on clean foods is a non-negotiable for me.
Ever since I started eating clean, it’s helped me get:
- Quicker muscle recovery times
- Increased energy levels while at my desk
- Better computer posture
I’ve done this by consuming (mostly):
- Pasture-raised red meat (100% grass-fed)
- Organic fruits
- Organic vegetables
- Pasture-raised eggs
- Healthy animal fats (for cooking)
You can read more about my experience in an article I wrote titled, Foods That Promote Good Posture.
Breathwork
Stress and poor posture used to cause constant shallow breathing when I was at my office desk. I’ve read a couple books and taken a couple classes on breathing. The main things I’ve learned are:
- I needed to increase the amount of air that went into my lungs
- I needed to increase the amount of time that air spent in my lungs
Ironically, this meant I needed to:
- Breathe slower
- Breathe less number of times
- Breathe through my nose more (I used to be a chronic mouth breather)
I’ve improved my computer posture by combining stretching with breathwork practices. It’s also helped me:
- Increase my lung capacity
- Decrease my stress level
- Improve blood flow to soft tissues that were excessively tight
What does sedentary mean?
Sedentary
Sedentary means spending a long time in a seated position (8 hours a day definitely qualifies).
This position is somewhat inactive. But I hesitate to use that word. Because some of our muscles may be inactive when sitting at a computer all day.
But the rest of our muscles are constantly, chronically overused while we type and click.
This is why I always say…
Sitting isn’t the only enemy when it comes to computer posture. The main enemy is working in the exact same position for long periods of time.
One of the best things I ever did for my computer posture was get a height-adjustable desk (not paid promotion).
It allows me to quickly switch between sitting and standing at my desk. If you haven’t tried standing at your desk yet, check out my article titled, Sit, Stand, Repeat: Getting Used to a Standing Desk.
The Most Common Ergonomic Injuries from Computer Work
Repetitive Strain Injuries
A repetitive strain injury is caused by holding muscles activated for long periods of time. It doesn’t matter if we have good or bad posture.
Bad posture obviously makes repetitive strain injuries more likely.
But good computer posture can also cause repetitive strain, when working in the same position for long periods of time.
That’s why it’s important for me to switch working positions multiple times a day.
Examples of repetitive strain injuries from computer use can be:
- Upper back muscles lengthening (from slouching forward)
- Chest muscles compressing and shortening (also from slouching forward)
- Bicep muscles shortening (from lifting/holding hands up onto the keyboard and mouse)
- Hamstring muscles shortening (from pulling my feet underneath my chair and holding them there all day)
- Neck muscles compressed on the front and lengthened on the back of the neck (from looking downward at a laptop monitor 8 hours a day)
- Carpal tunnel syndrome (from extending my wrists upwards to place them on a tall, bulky keyboard and mouse all day)
Overuse Injuries
Most of my computer posture injuries fall under the repetitive strain category.
But a couple fall under the umbrella of overuse injuries.
- Typing on a keyboard
- Clicking on a mouse
Think about how many keystrokes or mouse clicks we make in an 8 hour day. I have no idea how many for me. It’s definitely in the thousands.
This excessive overuse is obviously weakening our grip strength. Especially because the muscles in our hands and fingers are very small.
My grip strength got very weak from typing and clicking. So I dove deep on this topic. Check out my article titled How to Improve Grip Strength to learn about my experience.
Muscle tension
Repetitive strain and overuse injuries lead to muscle tension before it leads to computer pain.
It’s important for me to notice this muscle tension first. That way I can correct my computer posture mistakes before those tight muscles pull too much on their tendons. This is usually why we feel computer pain at a major joint.
Because muscles are connected to tendons, which are connected to bones (often near joints). I often feel painful inflammation in an overloaded tendon, before I realize its connecting muscle is tight.
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Many people think carpal tunnel syndrome occurs from the act of typing too much. While that may be true in some cases, that was not the case for me.
My carpal tunnel pain was caused by extending my wrists up off the desks, to place my hands on a tall keyboard and mouse.
Holding that position for long periods of time was what caused my computer wrist pain.
Once I replaced my outdated, tall keyboard and mouse with flatter, ergonomic devices, my wrist pain went away in a few days. And it hasn’t returned since.
The flat keyboard and mouse allowed me to keep my wrists straight and neutral all day, not bent up or down.
Spinal disc degeneration
Spinal disc degeneration is when soft tissue discs (between the vertebrae) deteriorate.
The discs can be overextended (then tear away from the vertebrae).
Or the discs can be crushed (from the pressure of the surrounding vertebrae).
Both of these happened to me (from slouching forward at my computer).
Slouching forward
Slouching forward is a compromised position for the spine.
It causes the discs to get crushed on the front side of the spine.
At the same time, it causes the discs to tear on the rear side of the spine.
This imbalance caused all kinds of dysfunction in my spine.
In 2011, I learned I had stage 1 spinal disc degeneration.
Prior to that, the damage done to my discs is irreversible.
How to stop spinal disc degeneration from progressing
To stop the progression of my disc degeneration, the first thing I did was learn about neutral spinal position.
And keeping the natural curves of my spine intact.
Especially when I sit at a computer for long periods of time.
Forward head posture
This is when the neck extends forward in front of the chest.
This used to leave my head very poorly supported.
Gravity added to the weight of my head, which caused overuse in my neck muscles.
This poor position caused chronic pain and excessive muscle tension for me.
Mainly because I was looking downward at my laptop monitor for long periods of time.
I solve this problem by always using an external monitor now.
Sitting up “too straight”
In 2011, I took full accountability of my poor computer posture. I learned what ergonomic mistakes I was making.
Then naturally, I overdid it. I sat up “too straight.” This flattened out the natural curves in my spine.
It started with the lumbar curve in my lower back. Once that curve flattened, it set off a chain reaction of misalignment throughout the rest of my spine.
Sitting up “too straight” also caused my hip flexors to overextend, which caused dysfunction throughout my legs.
Postural Fatigue
Postural fatigue happens when the muscles that support posture get tired.
One of the most common muscles groups to suffer from postural fatigue is the core.
Just to name a few, these muscles include the lower back, abdominal, pelvic floor, hip flexors, and obliques.
These muscles get tired, which easily leads to slouching and compensation patterns.
Working at a computer for long periods of time is an unbalanced endurance event.
Some of my muscles are deactivated and not used at all.
While other muscles can be constantly overused.
Those are the muscles that suffer postural fatigue.
Computer neck pain
I used to work 8 hours a day from a laptop monitor. Now, I still use a laptop. But I do not use the monitor. I use an external monitor instead. It’s one of the most valuable devices I’ve added to my computer ergonomics process.
Laptop monitors are way too low and way too small. Looking downward, and holding my head in that compromised position for 8 hours a day, caused neck pain and eye strain for years. When I switched to using an external monitor, that stopped the bleeding. In fact, my neck pain immediately stopped getting worse.
Correct eye level on my external monitor didn’t fix my neck dysfunction completely, but I’ve written articles about what did.
Articles like:
Why Does Sitting at a Computer Cause Neck Pain?
What is the Proper Monitor Height to Prevent Eye and Neck Strain?
How to Prevent Repetitive Strain Injuries from Computer Work
Body awareness
This is just what it sounds like. We can’t know what computer posture mistakes we’re making if we aren’t aware of certain positions our body parts are in.
I describe body awareness as the conscious knowledge of my posture, tension, and pain levels throughout the day.
I took full accountability for my poor computer posture back in 2011. The first step I took was increasing my body awareness. It was the starting point for lasting change and improvement.
Because before I could correct my sitting posture, I had to fully understand what computer posture mistakes I was making.
Microbreaks
I used to sit at my desk in the morning, for 4 or 5 hours straight, without getting up. I’d bang out work, with no regard for my posture, mental clarity, or work productivity.
I may have gotten a ton of work done that morning, but I’d be toast that afternoon. My brain was toast and my body would be stiff and in pain. This was not a good recipe for work productivity.
Now, I take short, frequent breaks (every 30 to 60 minutes) to move, stretch, and reset my posture.
You’ve probably heard my state before, sitting isn’t the only posture enemy.
Working in any position for long periods of time can cause repetitive strain and overuse injuries.
Regardless if my posture is good or bad.
That’s why I take microbreaks.
Then, I switch to a new position every time I get back to my desk.
Those positions are:
- Sitting in a chair
- Standing
- Sitting on a stool
- Reclined (torso)
Proprioception
This is our internal sense of body position and movement.
Have you ever seen a football player jump, catch a touchdown, then his toes land an inch inside the out of bounds line?
That’s proprioception. Knowing exactly where his body is.
Having high proprioception at my computer is also important.
If my elbow level is an inch too low, it could cause excessive bicep tension, which will lead to shoulder pain.
Having a high level of proprioception at my desk allows me to move quickly, with decreased pain and higher work productivity.
Neutral spine
A neutral spine is a healthy position, especially when sitting or standing for long periods of time.
I also refer to a neutral spine as a balanced spine. It has its natural curves intact.
A neutral spine is a healthy balance between slouching forward and sitting up “too straight.”
Natural curves
The 3 main curves of the spine are found in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions.
Understanding what these curves look like is a major step toward improving computer posture.
The second step is to have the body awareness to know when we’re holding these curves out of alignment.
Postural Stacking
When I’m postural stacking, I make sure to align my head, shoulders, ribs, and pelvis (from a side angle) over each other while sitting.
When I’m standing, I include knees and feet into the mix.
Combine postural stacking with maintaining a neutral spine, with its natural curves intact. And that’s a force multiplier for good computer posture.
Soft tissue
I say the term soft tissue when I’m referring to my muscles, tendons, ligaments, or fascia.
I also say soft tissue when I’m referring to all of the above as a whole.
Because they are all connected. Whether it’s directly, or indirectly.
For example…
Overused, shortened hamstrings pulled on my knee tendons.
This caused dysfunction in my knees. Which led to tight calf muscles.
And that also led to ankle dysfunction. Eventually, I needed 3 ankle surgeries.
All because of the repetitive strain in my hamstrings. Which was caused by poor foot position at a computer.
That’s my example of how soft tissue is indirectly connected.
Best Ergonomic Tools for Good Computer Posture
Height-adjustable desk
If I could only buy two ergonomic tools, this would be one of them. Because it allows me to quickly and easily switch between my 4 different working positions.
- Sitting in a chair
- Stand
- Sitting on a stool
- Reclined torso
(Side note: I make sure to support my back, neck, and head well when working in a reclined position. It’s a great way to relax my torso physically, which transfers more energy over to my mental side).
We only get a certain amount of energy each day to divide between physical and mental.
When I save physical energy, I have more mental energy available to be productive and creative.
A height-adjustable desk also makes it very easy to get my elbow height correct, regardless of what position I’m working in. Elbow height is one of my 3 most important ergonomic cues to get right. Because when my elbow height used to be too low, it caused biceps overuse, which led to excessive internal rotation and chronic pain in my shoulders.
External monitor
An external monitor is also one of my top 2 ergonomic tools. Because neck pain caused by using a laptop monitor was one of my most stubborn repetitive strain injuries I had to fix.
Next to elbow level, I’d say eye level is just as important for me to get correct (regardless if I’m sitting or standing at a computer).
External keyboard and mouse
Typing and clicking on a laptop can be a problem. Using an outdated, tall, bulky keyboard and mouse can also be a problem.
Because they would cause me to extend my wrists upward to lift my hands onto the keyboard. That’s one thing, but holding them in that compromised position for long periods of time is what caused my carpal tunnel syndrome (wrist pain).
When I switched to a newer, flat, external keyboard and mouse, my computer wrist pain went away completely in a few days. Because then I could relax my wrists, keeping them straight (not bent up or down), when typing and mousing.
Lumbar support
A lumbar support is a support tool (like a cushion) that’s helped me keep the natural curve in my lower back in place (when sitting). It’s helped me avoid lower back pain, slouching forward, prevent further spinal disc degeneration.
I haven’t always used a lumbar support. Not using one would cause my lumbar curve to flatten out. This would create misalignment throughout my entire spine. Holding this misalignment for long periods of time caused chronic pain and excessive muscle tension throughout my entire back.
I’m not saying everyone needs a lumbar support. But it has helped me improve my computer posture in a big way.
Footrest
Correct chair height at a computer is one of the most important ergonomic cues for me. I raise my chair until my elbow level is slightly above desk level (a couple inches above the desk is where I am most comfortable).
But sometimes, this correct chair height will raise my feet off the floor. When this is case, I keep that chair height. But I use a footrest. And I keep my feet flat on the footrest if my feet wouldn’t touch the floor.
Because correct chair height, and keeping my feet flat on the floor, are equally important ergonomic cues for me.
Anti-fatigue mat
Standing at my desk has helped decrease computer-related pain that was caused by sitting. But even if I’m standing, I don’t want to work in the same exact position for long periods.
One of the main reasons why is because I don’t want to stand on a hard floor. That’s why I stand on a thick, rubber anti-fatigue mat. This allows the muscles in my legs and feet to relax a little, opposed to when I was standing on a hard floor.
Anterior vs Posterior: What Do These Terms Mean in Anatomy?
Let’s take a look at these 2 terms, anterior vs posterior, explained simply for better computer posture.
Anterior
Anterior is a medical term used to describe part of the front of the body.
This can include chest, biceps, quadriceps, abdominal muscles, and so on.
Posterior
Posterior is a medical term used to describe part of the back of the body (the opposite of anterior).
This can include back, triceps, glutes, hamstrings, and so on.
Key Ergonomic Adjustments for Better Computer Posture
Elbow Height
→ I always want my elbow height to be slightly above my keyboard, mouse, and desk level.
I used to have elbow height too low, below my desk level. This caused overuse of my biceps (to lift my hands up onto the keyboard and mouse). My bicep muscles shortened over time, which caused painful tendonitis in my shoulders.
Desk Height
→ I always want my desk height to be slightly below my natural elbow level.
I have a height-adjustable desk. This allows me to easily switch between sitting vs standing positions.
When I used to sit with my desk too low, it would cause me to naturally slouch forward.
A simple desk height adjustment can lead to massive improvements in computer posture.
Chair Height
Sometimes we don’t have the luxury of a height-adjustable desk. In that case…
→ I adjust my chair height until my elbows are slightly above desk level.
This allows me to sit with an upright torso more naturally, simply by adjusting my chair height.
Foot position
→ I always keep my feet flat on the floor (or a footrest) when I’m at my computer.
Foot position at a computer definitely matters. Especially when it comes to being an athlete. I used to have poor foot position. I would pull my feet underneath my chair. This caused tight, shortened hamstrings. At the same time, my quadriceps would lengthen.
This poor foot position caused muscle tension and joint dysfunction throughout my legs. And it carried over to sports and my workouts.
Monitor Height
→ I always keep my monitor height (top of the screen) even with my eye level.
I never work off a laptop monitor anymore. They are too low and too small. This caused chronic neck pain, tension, and dysfunction. The muscles on the front of my neck shortened, while the muscles on the back of my neck lengthened.
Now, I still work on a laptop. But I plug in an external monitor, instead of using my laptop monitor. And I also make sure my monitor height is even with my eye level.
Eye Level
→ My eye level is always even with the top of my monitor screen.
Laptop monitor neck pain is a computer injury I never want to deal with again.
So I always work off an external monitor, regardless if I’m sitting or standing at my computer desk.
If you liked this article, you’ll love my Computer Posture Checklist.
Learn how to:
- Improve computer posture
- Decrease computer-related pain
- Improve work productivity
- Improve mental clarity
Here’s exactly what you’ll get:
- A 4-page PDF checklist
- How to sit at a computer
- How to stand at a computer
- How to turn your desk into an asset that promotes good computer posture
- The minimal amount of posture info that’ll produce the most results
Whenever you’re ready, click here to snag your Computer Posture Checklist.
Thanks for your interest in computer posture.
Todd Bowen – Computer Posture Correction and Pain-Free Ergonomics: For Office Workers Who Want to Increase Work Productivity