I started cold plunging in January of 2023. There are many health benefits I’ve gotten from it. The main one: cold plunging has helped improve my blood flow. When my blood flow is improved, my muscle pain is decreased. My muscle soreness is decreased. My muscle recovery is quicker. It’s one of my favorite home remedies for reducing pain and muscle tension. All these health benefits have helped me improve posture at my computer.
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Setting up a cold plunge can get expensive and time consuming. I wanted to do it multiple times a week. So, I needed to be creative logistically.
Back in 2011, I didn’t realize my knee pain was caused by sitting at a computer for long periods of time. I thought it was from overtraining. Besides, the first time I ever felt knee pain was after a long run. But the pain that day was the effect of my problem. Running was a variable that made the knee pain worse. However, the cause of the knee pain was repetitive strain from sitting at a computer for long periods of time.
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Why does sitting at a computer cause knee pain?
As soon as I felt knee pain, I made an appointment with a massage therapist. He was a really sharp guy. He was also a CrossFit coach, which is the main training method I was doing back then.
I told him my knees hurt, but I wasn’t sure why. He explained to me that pain and inflammation in a joint is often caused by a tight muscle somewhere else. Muscles are attached to tendons. Tendons are attached to bones. Often at a joint, like a knee.
For example: the quadriceps, hamstrings, IT bands, and calves all attach to tendons at the knee. When these muscles get tight, we might feel muscle tension. But it didn’t really hurt in the muscle for me. It just felt tight. The problem is, tight muscles pull extra hard on tendons, which get overextended easily. These tendons at the knee are where we’re more likely to feel the pain first.
A full-time office worker hits a button on the keyboard thousands of times per day. With every keystroke we make, the muscles in our hands, and tendons in our fingers, are doing the exact opposite of what builds a strong grip.
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But why does this happen?
You would think using our hands and fingers to type all day would make our grip stronger.
But these are the reasons why typing weakened my grip strength…
My thoughts on yoga have been very positive. Yoga is a great exercise that both stretches and strengthens my muscles. I like to practice gentle yoga where I find a position in between comfortable and challenging. I don’t overdo it. Also, I enjoy hot yoga versus a yoga practice that’s done in a room at regular temperature. I like to get there 10 minutes early before the class starts. This way I can rest on my mat lying flat on my back before class. During this time, I focus on my breathing. Breathing in the warmer air is calming and relaxing to me. It also helps my blood circulate better, which makes my muscles work better during the yoga practice.
Keep in mind, nothing I write about is medical advice. I simply talk about my experience. I share the computer posture mistakes I made. And then I share how I fixed them. Do your research. Make good decisions. And be the best possible advocate for your own healthcare.
Physical therapy is great when you find a good therapist. But that’s often more of a hands-on approach by the therapist. You can only learn so much there. We also need to practice those good habits as much as possible in our daily lives, 24 hours a day / 7 days a week. Yoga practice is a great way to learn the work ourselves.
Exercise has provided me with incredible benefits. It improves my strength, my breathing, and my computer posture. All of these are great for keeping me in shape.
This photo shows an office worker suffering from lower back pain caused by sitting for long periods of time. Photo by Fizkes via Megapixl
My goals during exercise are pretty simple. Do body weight exercises and/or lift weights. For the last 15 minutes of my workout, I make it higher intensity. I don’t take any breaks in between sets. This helps to increase my breathing rate. This portion of the workout may not seem like a long one. But when you are constantly moving the whole time, it gets difficult and challenging quickly.
There are back exercises that can help relieve back pain, strengthen the back muscles, alleviate stiffness, and improve mobility.
There are also certain exercises that are not good for people with lower back pain. Triggering the wrong muscles, as well as straining the joints and ligaments, can worsen the lower back pain. Since we sit at a computer for long periods of time, we are already very likely to suffer from back pain.
So today, I’m sharing a roundup of back exercises that people with lower back pain should avoid. My articles are not medical advice. They are based on my personal experience and my opinions. Do your research. Make good decisions. And be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare.
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.
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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.
Lower back pain can be a mysterious, nagging issue for those of us who sit at a computer for long periods of time. I’ve dealt with it a lot over the years. Most of the time, it was caused by repetitive strain of my lower back muscles that were overextended. The question isn’t necessarily, “What’s wrong with my lower back?” But more accurately, “How is my poor computer posture causing this lower back pain?” There is a cause and effect for everything. In this case, lower back pain is the effect, not the cause.
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Common causes of lower back pain often don’t originate in the lower back. Improper sitting posture can affect or trigger lower back pain. Maintaining a neutral spine is very important. When we lose the lumbar curve, it overextends the muscles, also putting a lot of pressure on the spinal cord. Having our monitor too low can also cause lower back pain. Holding internal shoulder rotation for long periods of time can also cause us to slouch forward, setting off a chain reaction of bad habits down to the lower back. Other common posture mistakes are incorrect desk height, chair height, and foot position.
Nothing on my website is medical advice. It’s for informational purposes only. It’s not my intention to replace the need for physical therapy. I simply share my experience, what has worked for me, and what hasn’t. I talk about the poor posture mistakes I’ve fixed and the good postural habits I’ve learned. Also, I talk about things I’ve learned in pain relief and pain management. It’s important to consult a professional healthcare provider if the pain persists or when it happens suddenly. Also, consult them for medical advice before performing any of the methods in this article.
The degenerative disc disease in my cervical spine used to cause a lot of neck pain. Years ago, I’d look down at a computer screen 40 hours per week. My front neck muscles would compress and get shorter. My rear neck muscles would overextend and get longer. Holding my neck in this long term position caused a lot of dysfunction and muscle confusion.
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The cervical spine is located in the neck and upper back. It’s the uppermost portion of the spine. It’s made up of the top 7 vertebrae. Having a healthy, strong cervical spine is incredibly important to maintain good postural habits at a computer. It plays a huge part in supporting the head.
Fixing My Neck: Cervical Spine Exercises
To fix my neck pain, the first step I took was to better understand the natural curves of the spine. Next, I would do neck stretches to improve my range of motion. Finally, strengthening the muscles around the cervical spine has helped improve my posture. The most effective method of neck strengthening for office workers is to use an Iron Neck. To learn more, I wrote an Iron Neck Review that can be found here.
Prolonged sitting in front of a computer can increase the risk of injury and neck pain. This can happen regardless of how good or bad our posture is. However, having strong and flexible neck muscles in a good postural position will help resist injuries. Once my posture suffers, neck pain is much more likely to happen quicker. Exercise and frequent movement can help prevent this from happening. So today, I’m dedicating a post on cervical spine exercises that can help improve the strength and flexibility of the neck muscles to help prevent injuries and neck pain in the long run.
The majority of Americans are required to sit for 40 hours or more every week. Prolonged sitting in a static position, with incorrect posture, can cause long term and short term effects. Not everyone has the luxury of having an ergonomic office chair. But there are ways to sit comfortably and properly. These good sitting posture habits can help prevent some of the negative effects of a prolonged sitting position.
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How To Sit Comfortably In An Office Chair
How to adjust an office chair
Everyone has different variables when it comes to ergonomic sitting posture. Some of them include arm’s length, torso height, leg length, height of desk, height of your chair, etc. There’s no one way to describe how to sit properly in an office chair. It’s up to each of us to take our own variables into consideration when finding a comfortable sitting position. But with that said, here are 3 main rules I follow to adjust an office chair. These can apply to anyone.
My feet are flat on the floor
I never want an office chair too high so that you can’t rest your feet flat on the floor. You may have to sit at a very high desk, which causes you to raise your chair so much that your feet don’t touch the floor. In this case, a footrest would work just as well. Just make sure your feet are flat on the footrest.
Ergonomics means the “the study of people’s efficiency in their working environment” (definition credit Google/Oxford Languages). When it comes to working on a laptop, ergonomics means posture. It also means requiring good habits from multiple indirect variables. These variables can mean sleep quality, breathing, and hydration. Click on any of those if you’d like to take learn ergonomic tips about each subtopic. All of them are related to how good (or bad) our computer posture is.
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Using a laptop is very different from using a desktop. Laptops have a very compact design. My laptop screen, laptop keyboard and mouse are all within 13 inches of each other. Having to focus my eye level on my laptop screen, plus my hands on the keyboard and mouse, creates awkward postures. Factor in that we are in this vulnerable position for a long period of time, it exponentially increases the risk of injury. Laptops are not designed for all-day use.
Proper laptop ergonomics can help decrease the strain and pressure on your neck and back. Any time I feel physical pain, my work productivity and mental clarity suffer. Following a few ergonomic tips can help improve your productivity and clarity.
The definition on ergonomics is “the study of people’s efficiency in their working environment” (definition credit: Google/Oxford Languages). Ergonomics are much more than just posture. Posture is the position of a person’s body. In our case, the position we are in while sitting or standing at a computer workstation. Posture is an important variable. But when we add the variable of working for an extended period of time, it’s important that our ergonomics aims at a well-rounded practice of multiple variables.
What are Ergonomics?
Sitting and standing at a computer for long periods of time delivers a high risk of injury. It’s up to us to ensure we are working in a safe working environment. I understand that sometimes we are at the mercy of external factors. A lot of work just has to be done on a computer. Often, there is a lot of that work. This requires us to work in the same vulnerable position for long periods of time, which brings an increased risk of injury. However, there are plenty of human factors we can practice in order to maintain safe work at a computer. Today, I’ll talk about 4 subtopics of computer ergonomics that are very important for safety and health. They are sleep, breathing, hydration, and posture.
My definition of posture is the position someone holds their body in. Posture is a constant variable in our lives. The importance of good posture becomes much greater when we are working in a position for an extended period of time. Repetitive strain and overuse injuries are the enemy. Not necessarily the position we are sitting or standing in. A key variable in how to maintain good posture is to change the position we are working in multiple times throughout the day.
Having a neutral spine is another key variable to improve your posture. The old advice of “stand tall”, or “sit up straight”, is actually more complex than that. Sitting or standing “too tall” can possibly lead to poor posture. The spine isn’t straight. It has natural curves. When we properly sit and stand up straight, the spine is curved, which is often referred to as a neutral spine. Sometimes I refer to it as a balanced spine, that isn’t compressed or overextended.
Bad posture affects my confidence, pain levels, and overall health.
Proper posture looks like the combination of balance and stability. When working on a computer for long periods of time, I like to compare myself to a tree. Strong, but also able to move slightly, like a tree blowing in the wind. Not strong and stiff all day long, like a brick building. This would lead to poor posture from repetitive strain and overuse injuries.
Having good posture is very important to me. Repetitive strain injuries are still possible while we hold this position of good posture. Working in any one position for extended periods of time can lead to painful overuse injuries.
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But, as soon as we have poor posture, our risk of injury exponentially increases. These common postural problems include pain, tension, lack of energy, lack of focus, and lack of productivity. Poor posture can shift our center of gravity forward and overload our muscles and connective tissues. Reaching forward to use a keyboard and mouse makes us completely forget we have a back rest on our chair. We slouch forward, causing us to lose the natural curves in our spine. When we hold this position for 8 hours a day, it can cause chronic back, neck and shoulder pain.
The standard American desk chair is way too big for most of us. I’m 6’3″ tall. I weigh 205 pounds. The average chairs fit is even way too big for me, despite the ability to adjust height and width. Not only is it too big, using armrests proved to be destructive to the muscles and tendons in my neck and shoulder.
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We won’t get into redesigning ergonomic chairs today. Although, it’s on my list of things to do in the future. Sign up for my email newsletter here if you’d like to be notified of my future articles.
Today, I’m dedicating this article to explain the bad posture mistakes I used to make, related to using armrests while sitting on the chair. Nothing on my website is professional medical advice. It’s for educational purposes only. I share my experience, what has worked for me, and what hasn’t. I talk about the poor posture mistakes I’ve fixed and the good posture habits I’ve learned. You are your primary caretaker. Do your research and make good decisions. Be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare and sitting posture, specifically related to armrests height. Both height and width of office chair armrests have posed poor posture mistakes for me in the past.
The average computer user sits at a desk 8 hours a day, 40 hours per week, 2000 hours per year. We can’t keep talking about our poor sitting posture without taking action to fix it. Reducing pain caused by prolonged sitting is a very attainable goal. We just need to make small changes to our daily habits that will create the largest improvements over time. Today, I’m going to share a few simple cues that are easily actionable, for working both at a standing desk or in a sitting posture.
Nothing on my website is professional medical advice. It’s for educational purposes only. I share my experience, what has worked for me, and what hasn’t. I talk about the poor posture mistakes I’ve fixed and the good posture habits I’ve learned. You are your primary caretaker. Do your research and make good decisions. Be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare and sitting posture.
Standing desks have become very popular in recent years. When sitting all day, I would naturally slouch forward. This caused some spinal disc degeneration in my back. I’ve since changed my desk setup. It’s adjustable and can go between sitting and standing throughout the day. Working at a standing desk has decreased my back pain significantly. I don’t slouch forward anymore, which has put a pause on my spinal disc degeneration.
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I also feel generally better while using a standing desk. I’m at much less risk of weight gain, compared to when I was sitting all day. It has also helped improve my mood, energy levels, work productivity, and mental clarity.
When I shifted from a regular desk to a standing desk, it took some getting used to. Today, I am dedicating this article to show how I got used to working at a standing desk and how to get the most out of its benefits.
The anatomy of the shoulders is very complex. There are several joints that connect the tendons and muscles that allow you to move your arms. There are a lot of factors that contribute to shoulder pain at work, including sitting at your desk for a long time, using a computer mouse, typing on a keyboard, and awkward postures while working. This complexity is a big reason why people suffer from shoulder pain. It’s complicated and people don’t know where to start. Today, I’m going to share my most basic, actionable, good posture habits to avoid shoulder pain at work.
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Nothing on my website is professional medical advice. It’s for educational purposes only. I share my experience, what has worked for me, and what hasn’t. I talk about the poor posture mistakes I’ve fixed and the good posture habits I’ve learned.
You are your primary caretaker. Not your doctor, surgeon, coach, or physical therapist. They all play a role. But, they also have their own agenda and their own motivation that’s not always in our best interest, regardless if it’s intentional or not. Do your research and make good decisions. Be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare and prevent shoulder pain as much as possible.
I used to suffer from painful headaches often. These weren’t the typical tension type headaches, where a couple pills would make it go away. These were bad. Every muscle in my head, face, and neck would have tension and pain. The side of the head hurt, as well as the front and back. My eyelids would have muscle spasms. There were many variables that contributed to this muscle tension.
How to decrease head and neck tension. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio via Pexels.
Physical therapy wasn’t going to help. Any work they could do would just be undone the next week I sat at a computer for 40 hours. Regardless if I had good posture or poor posture, repetitive strain would cause me tension type headaches.
Standing workstations allow office workers to use a computer comfortably, while in a physically active position. Commonly referred to as standing desks, or sit stand desks, they allow us to use repetitive strain to our advantage, correcting bad habits that sitting has caused.
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Sitting in an office chair for long periods of time makes us dominant on the posterior (back) side of our lower body. Our hamstrings and gluteus muscles are overused and they shorten over time. Conversely, this causes the anterior (front) side of our lower body to become overextended. Our quadriceps lengthen and get weaker from sitting for extended periods of time. Sitting causes both posterior and anterior leg muscles to get weaker and more deactivated. Posterior tissues shorten, while anterior tissues lengthen. This causes a lot of muscle imbalance and confusion in the legs, as well as increased risk of injury during sports and exercise.
Breathing is an important factor of having good posture at a computer. When I sat at a desk 40 hours per week, physical and mental stress would cause me shallow breath and posture that was poor. My shoulder tension was out of control. My shoulder blades were uneven. I had pelvic floor issues from sitting too long. The natural curves in my spine were always out of alignment.
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It felt like the air I was breathing would barely pass below the airway in my neck, much less into my lungs. As soon as it would enter my lungs, I would exhale it out. The air was in my lungs long enough to keep me conscious. Instead of letting my breath work for me efficiently, my brain and body were always in more of a defensive state. All of my muscles were either compressed or overextended. They were all tight, especially breathing muscles like the diaphragm, abdominals, and muscles throughout my rib cage.
Nothing on my website is medical advice. It’s for informational purposes only. I share my experience, what has worked for me, and what hasn’t. I talk about the poor posture mistakes I’ve fixed and the good posture habits I’ve learned.
