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Back pain is a serious issue for those of us who work on a computer for long periods of time. I used to suffer from back pain chronically when I sat at a computer 40 hours per week. The back is a very complex muscle group. There are a lot of variables to consider. When the spine is not in a neutral position, the compression forces repetitive strain and overuse injuries much quicker than if we had good posture.

Are Sit Ups Bad For Lower Back Pain

It’s also important to be careful in choosing the activities you do. After a long day of sitting, it might be a bad idea to do ab workouts that build core strength. The core muscles definitely need to be strengthened, but I usually did more harm than good when I did core exercises after sitting at a computer all day. Although it may not feel like it, my core muscles work all day long to support my torso at a computer. Working on a computer for long periods of time is an endurance event, regardless if we are sitting or standing. Going straight to a gym after work to do sit up repetition wasn’t the ideal balance for me. I always tried to do my core exercises on days that I wasn’t doing any work on a computer.

Exercise is very important to me.

As I’ve gotten into my mid-forties, I’ve noticed the lack of muscle growth and activation I was used to when I was younger. That elusive six pack is much harder to achieve as I’ve gotten older. The more I use my core muscles to support my computer posture for long periods of time, the more my abdominal muscles get tighter, weaker, and more deactivated. But these are just more reasons and more motivation to focus on my physical fitness. A huge variable of that is training my abdominal muscles effectively. Improving my core strength hasn’t been an easy task for me. Certain body movements and core exercises have made my back pain worse, sometimes including sit ups and crunches. So today, I’m dedicating this post on how sit ups can affect lower back pain.

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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.

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.

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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.

Continue reading “How Can Posture Affect Your Health”

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.

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.

Continue reading “How to Improve Neck and Back 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.

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.

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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.

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.

Continue reading “How to Sit at Your Desk to Relieve Shoulder Pain”

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.

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.

Continue reading “Health Benefits of Standing Workstations”

The human body is usually between 60-75% water. Achieving proper hydration, then staying hydrated, is directly related to how good our computer posture is. It’s very important to keep our bodies hydrated. One of the biggest motivations for me to maintain proper hydration is simply preventing headaches. Staying hydrated also prevents many other issues, such as causing organs to function poorly, as well as tissues surrounding the spine. If the spine isn’t well supported by muscles, tendons, and ligaments, our computer posture suffers quickly. Drinking plenty of water also prevents the formation of kidney stones. These are just a few of the benefits to staying hydrated.

Drinking the correct amount of water per day can keep the body healthy and well hydrated. The amount of water I drink (or don’t drink) is directly connected to the extent of my repetitive strain injuries caused by sitting at a desk. When I’m dehydrated, my muscles tense up and tighten much quicker, causing my posture to suffer. When I stay hydrated throughout the day, my posture is always easier to maintain. Improved posture is just one of the benefits of drinking water for me.

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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.

Continue reading “Guide To Good Posture”

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.

Continue reading “Computer Posture Mistakes and Fixes”

Sitting for prolonged hours used to put a lot of pressure on my back muscles and spinal discs. This pressure resulted in stubborn lower back pain. This pain was often debilitating. It was painful both when I was in a sitting position and when I was away from my desk. My improper sitting posture was the main variable worsening the pain.

When in a sitting position for prolonged periods, the first instinct people tend to have is slouching forward. We reach for that keyboard and mouse. Everything goes downhill from there. Slouching can strain the spinal discs and overstretch the ligaments.

Years ago, my physical therapist was hitting me in the head for a $50 copay thrice a week. It wasn’t helping. I had to figure out ways to improve my sitting position during the time I was outside of the physical therapist’s office.

Simply “sitting up straight” wasn’t enough to relieve this pain. I had to take an intentional, yet simplified approach. There are many ways to avoid lower back pain and other back related injuries. This article talks about the 4 most helpful habits I implemented on how to sit properly to avoid lower back pain.

Continue reading “How to Sit Properly to Avoid Lower Back Pain”

The majority of the employed population are required to work (while sitting at a desk) for a long period of time. Prolonged sitting and poor posture has caused me neck pain, back pain, headaches, and shoulder pain. The repetitive strain from sitting at a desk has also caused chronic tension and dysfunction in my muscles and tendons. All these not only affected my productivity at work, but also my quality of life away from my ergonomic office. Most of the factors that affected my posture were within my control. Once I learned how to correct them, they were not hard to change. But, these good posture habits took some commitment to maintain.

How to Have Good Posture at Your Desk

Maintaining proper sitting posture is a life-long process. There are many variables to living a healthy lifestyle while sitting at a desk. Hydration, nutrition, breathing, body awareness, and self-healing are also some important variables when it comes to maintaining proper posture during a long day. I’ll get into those in more detail in other articles. Today, let’s start with how I changed some bad habits and got into a good posture position.

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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.

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.*

Continue reading “How Often Should You Stand Up From Your Desk”

Posture is the particular way that we hold our bodies. We could be holding our bodies like this consciously or subconsciously. Sometimes, you can correct your posture very easily. Other times, improving your posture can be extremely difficult. Sitting at a computer causes stubborn tension in our muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia.

Think about how many years you’ve been sitting at a computer desk for 40 hours per week. Healing our chronic pain, that’s caused by sitting at a computer, is a long and complex process. We’ll need to approach it from many different angles. The first step towards improving your posture is to increase your body awareness.

Good posture is important. Before we can have posture that is right, we need know what we are doing wrong. Posture can be a way that we sit, stand, and even lay down to sleep. It’s not so much the position we are in, but how long we are in that same position. That is why I chose to sit and stand, switching often, throughout my workday.

Maintaining good posture is important. It can affect our overall well-being in a big way. Bad posture affects us physically, as well as mentally. I’m very interested in the direct connection between physical, mental, and emotional stress. I’ll get more into this in another article.

Continue reading “3 Benefits of Good Posture”

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.

Continue reading “How High Should a Standing Desk Be”

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.

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The American office worker spends an average of 40 hours per week sitting at a computer desk. That equals 2,000 hours per year. If someone had a desk job for 20 years, that equals 40,000 hours of loading on the spine in poor sitting postures.

Poor posture can eventually cause injuries if not corrected early on. The sooner these poor sitting postures can be corrected, the less severity of posture related injuries from computer use will occur.

I used to have an office job at a large company. Along with myself, the number of co-workers who were affected by musculoskeletal disorders from computer use was staggering. When I first started my blog, I would get emails from co-workers that I didn’t personally know. But we all sat at the same desks, in the same office, for long periods of time. They would ask for advice or help with their common computer-related injuries. I’d give them my favorite ways that I improved my different sitting postures. Before long, a large percentage of my co-workers were interested. In order to prevent musculoskeletal disorders from computer use, the first step I would recommend is to learn proper sitting posture. That’s why I created a free ebook. You can download it at SittingPosture.com/ebook.

Continue reading “Posture Related Injuries from Computer Use”

We use intention and pay attention to the way we move during work hours. We overlook the fact that sleeping in the proper position can also help improve a person’s good posture. There are many benefits of recovering in a good sleeping position. We rest better, recover better, and wake up feeling refreshed. Sitting with good posture at a computer desk for 8 hours is an endurance event. It takes strength, energy, and balance. The less our sleep quality is, the quicker we get tired the next day. The earlier we get tired in the day, the quicker our good posture turns into bad posture. Conversely, using more healthy sleeping habits will directly improve the posture we have throughout the next work day.

How to Sleep for Better Posture

Sleeping with bad habits can easily cause muscle tension issues and repetitive strain injuries. To improve your sleep quality, practice these good sleeping habits to prepare the body for a good night’s rest and recovery.

How to Choose a Good Pillow

My personal choice of pillow has both a medium density and a medium thickness. It’s not too firm, so it doesn’t feel like I’m resting my head on a hard foam yoga block. It’s also not too soft or too thin, which wouldn’t support my head, neck, and spine correctly. The medium density, medium thickness type of pillow that is ideal for me supports both my neck and head when I’m sleeping on my back. When I sleep on my side, I will fold the same pillow in half, doubling the thickness of the pillow, which is perfect for keeping my neck and spine straight and well supported (which avoids neck pain). We’ll talk more about each sleeping position later in this article.

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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.

Continue reading “How to Properly Sit at a Computer Desk”