SittingPosture.com

Good Computer Desk Posture

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.

How To Get Used To A Standing Desk

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.

two people using a standing desk to Get Used To A Standing Desk — Photo by TheStandingDesk via Unsplash

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.

Decrease Your Head and Neck Tension (with 2 tennis balls and a sock)

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.

Improve Your Posture by Breathing More Effectively

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.

lungs of human — Photo by Ilexx via Megapixl

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.

Guide To Good Posture

Correct posture is incredibly important when it comes to sitting and standing at a computer desk. Poor posture doesn’t only affect our physical health. It also affects our confidence, mental health, blood flow, nerve health, and more. The first step toward injury prevention is to improve your posture.

Many people don’t think twice about their bad posture. They have no idea they may be contributing to future back pain, postural stress, muscle fatigue, rounded shoulders and more.

So, today I’m sharing my ultimate guide to good posture. By trying these tips, you could noticeably improve your posture and feel the difference too. I sat at a computer desk with poor posture for many years. One day, I took accountability for my bad posture and started implementing as many small, correct posture habits as I could.

Computer Posture Mistakes and Fixes

Posture is “the position in which someone holds their body when standing or sitting” (definition credit: Google and Oxford Languages). Having good posture includes many different variables and steps in the process. I’ve learned the most important variable to having good posture means having a balanced, neutral spine. When sitting for long periods of time, 2 of the most common posture mistakes I suffered from affected me the most. These 2 posture mistakes are sitting with a compressed spine and sitting with an overextended spine.

Bad posture used to affect my physical appearance and my self-confidence. The posture mistakes I made while sitting at a computer were also having long term effects on me 24 hours a day. Sitting at a computer for long periods of time can take a heavy toll on us physically and mentally. Improving your posture can help improve overall health and well-being. Starting my good posture journey has prevented muscle tension, joint strains, back pain, and many other physical injuries. The 2 most common posture mistakes can easily be corrected by quick posture fixes.

4 Rookie Mistakes That Made My Posture Much Worse

Sitting at a computer desk caused the most stubborn injuries I’ve ever had. Speaking from experience, poor posture from sitting can lead to long term muscle pain and tension. Neck and back pain were the most noticeable for me. But I also had a lot of issues with my legs, arms, neck and shoulders.

The good news is, improving your posture doesn’t always require going to the physical therapist. The goal is to implement the most good habits into our daily routine, that will make the biggest improvement over time.

woman sitting that could make her Posture Much Worse — Photo by Andrea-Piacquadio via Pexels

Nothing on my website is medical advice. I share my experience, what has worked for me, and what hasn’t. I talk about the common posture mistakes I’ve fixed and the good posture habits I’ve learned.

You are your primary caretaker. Not your doctor, therapist, 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 your own good decisions. Be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare.

Basic Computer Ergonomics

Office ergonomics involve many different variables. Obviously, posture and body positions are major factors. Others include hydration and sleeping habits. Following these simple protocols directly improved my workstation ergonomics. Anything that improves someone’s efficiency in their work environment can be classified under the term ergonomics. Some of these habits take place while we are physically in our work environment. Some of these can take place while we are not in our work environment. All of them directly improved my sitting posture, as well as my general overall health.

Basic Computer Ergonomics

ergonomics meaning for Computer Ergonomics

Posture and body positions

Years ago, I took full accountability of the poor posture I had in my work environment. I changed various workstation and computer ergonomics related to my computer screen.

The first thing I did was replace my very old monitor with a newer, larger monitor. This reduced my eye strain in a big way. That change obviously won’t apply to everyone, but it made a huge improvement for me because my monitor was very small and outdated.

How to Improve Computer Posture

“Sit up straight.” Or, “Use good posture”. We’ve heard things like this a million times. But what do they really mean? How do we really do it? And what are the specific cues? This article talks about a minimalistic way to improve your posture while sitting at a computer. Poor posture and ergonomics take a lot of work to correct. The human body is a complex system. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t simplify the sitting process as much as possible.

Whether you work at home or in an office, it takes a few simple changes and a lot of commitment to improve your posture. This article won’t apply to working at a stand desk. We’ll cover that another time. This article will cover how to improve your posture while sitting in an office chair for long periods of time.

Good Laptop Posture

Since I switched to a laptop from a desktop computer, my productivity has increased. But, working from a laptop greatly increased the risk of bad posture for me. Today, I’ll solely talk about the two main posture issues I fixed from working on a laptop.

The ability to take our laptop with us and work anywhere in the world is incredibly convenient. This article doesn’t necessarily talk about using a laptop during travel. I completely understand the value of being able to work away from the home office. The human body is very resilient. We can withstand poor posture positions for small amounts of time. We get in trouble with posture when we try to fight through these poor positions for long periods of time on a daily basis.

This article will talk about how to use good posture on a laptop while working in an office or home office. In other words, this article applies to any permanent location that we work on our laptop for long periods of time, where we have the ability to make a couple small changes to our ergonomic setup.

How Often Should You Stand Up From Your Desk

When working at a computer, prolonged periods of sitting time resulted in an increased risk of backaches and body pains for me. A sedentary lifestyle of 40 hours per week added up quickly to be a tremendous health risk. I’ve had many health conditions caused by the negative effects of sitting for long periods of time. Luckily, I was able to avoid serious negative effects like diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. But many people aren’t so lucky. Many have experienced these issues due to an increased risk caused by a sedentary lifestyle. Sedentary time can add up over the years and cause these conditions.

people stand up from your desk — Photo by TheStandingDesk on Unsplash

Fortunately, I’ve been able to change my lifestyle away from the typical 40 hour week grind. I’m not chained to the desk anymore. I no longer sit at a computer for long periods of time. I can pretty much make my own schedule. However, for those of us who don’t have that luxury, there are still plenty of ways to improve a sedentary lifestyle, even while working a demanding schedule that requires sitting for prolonged periods of time. *Disclosure: From time to time, I use photos from royalty free photo websites that feature products. I’m not affiliated with, or compensated by any product sellers or manufacturers.*

How High Should a Standing Desk Be

Standing desks are beneficial to me for many reasons. My blood circulation is improved throughout my workday. It improves my mental clarity, which makes me more productive and creative. The option to stand up straight at work allows me to activate muscles that would otherwise be neglected if I were sitting all day. Standing also allows me to keep a balanced activation between my anterior (front) muscles and my posterior (back) muscles.

If we were sitting instead, the anterior muscles are typically compressed and shortened all day. The posterior muscles are also compressed all day, but they are lengthened instead of shortened. This caused a major imbalance of functionality for me during exercise, sports, running, walking, sleeping, and even waking up in the morning. Using an adjustable standing desk has reduced the probability of straining my back either while working or exercise. Plus, my back just feels healthier and stronger.

Hypervolt Massage Gun Benefits

One of my favorite massaging tools I use to improve my posture is the Hypervolt massage gun. It is made by a company called Hyperice. I’m not compensated by Hyperice in any way. I’m simply a customer who loves their products, which I paid for with my own money. All the info in this article comes from my personal experience of using the product.

There are three different versions of the Hypervolt massage gun. They all provide rapid bursts of pressure by giving a percussion massage, also known as a vibration massage. The version with the lowest intensity of pressure is the Hypervolt GO. The version with the highest intensity is the Hypervolt Plus. I own the version that has the output intensity in the middle of these two models. My version is simply called the Hypervolt. The Hypervolt is the model I will talk about here in this article, not the Hypervolt GO or the Hypervolt Plus.

How to Properly Sit at a Computer Desk

The average American office worker sits at a computer desk 40 hours per week. That’s over 2,000 hours per year. Multiply those 2,000 hours by how many years you’ve had a job working in a sitting position. That’s a lot of repetitive strain to undo before we can sit with correct sitting posture. Learning to sit properly in an office chair is going to take patience. The good news is that I’ve been obsessively learning and testing different good habits for years. My story is based on my own experience. The different ways I corrected my poor posture aren’t medical advice. Choose which info could be helpful for you and your situation. Talk with your doctor and be the strongest advocate possible for your own health.

It’s super easy to hunch over a keyboard when you’re working for prolonged periods of time. It’s the most common poor posture habit when sitting in a desk chair. Reading a monitor from arm’s length, as well as using a keyboard and mouse, are all actions that occur in front of our bodies. These actions naturally force a large amount of muscles and tendons to constantly pull us out of sitting up straight.

Not sitting properly at a computer desk causes many negative effects. The short-term effects that bothered me the most were being tired constantly and having a cloudy mental clarity. The long-term effects I suffered from were pain in the neck and back, poor blood circulation, weak legs, stiff neck, tight hips, and weight gain.

Welcome to SittingPosture.com

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3 Ways to Improve Computer Posture Immediately! Book by Todd Bowen — Ways to Improve Computer Posture ebook, by Todd Bowen.

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Dear desk jockeys, (an open letter)

Dear desk jockeys,

We sit at a computer desk 40+ hours per week. The human body wasn’t designed to do that. It actually wasn’t designed to be in ANY one (same) position that long. It’s only going to cause massive pain and dysfunction in our bodies.

As desk jockeys, it’s not our fault. But, it IS our responsibility to adapt, change, and heal.

Many years ago, it was a fascinating new concept to sit at a computer desk and make a living. People realized they could pay for a house, cars, all their bills while not even getting out of their chair. They realized they hardly had to move at work anymore. Work was going to be great and life was going to change tremendously. They were right about one of those.