Computer-related injuries are a common cause for muscle tension and chronic pain. Computer posture can be a complex topic. But my goal is to simplify it as much as possible.
Pain-free, proper posture for computer use is an attainable goal. If you’re reading this article, congratulations! You’re taking a huge step forward to improve your computer ergonomics, as well as your quality of life. That’s something to be very proud of. Thanks for your interest in sitting posture.
Welcome to today’s article, frequently asked questions related to computer posture. Image via ChatGPT.
This article will answer frequently asked questions related to computer posture. The questions are:
Why is computer posture important for health?
What are the effects of poor posture while working at a computer desk?
How often should I take breaks to avoid bad posture?
What causes shoulder tension during computer work?
Computer-related injuries are a common cause for muscle tension and chronic pain. Computer posture can be a complex topic. But my goal is to simplify it as much as possible.
Pain-free, proper posture for computer use is an attainable goal. If you’re reading this article, congratulations! You’re taking a huge step forward to improve your computer ergonomics, as well as your quality of life. That’s something to be very proud of. Thanks for your interest in sitting posture.
Welcome to today’s article, frequently asked questions related to computer posture. Image via ChatGPT.
This article will answer frequently asked questions related to computer posture. The questions are:
What ergonomic tools can improve posture while using a computer?
Neck and back pain are very common complaints from office workers. When using a computer 8 hours a day, repetitive strain and overuse injuries occur. The worse our posture is, the more pain we’ll feel.
But what if I told you that proper posture for computer use can be simplified? Making a couple ergonomic changes to our desk setup may not completely heal our computer-related neck and back pain. But those changes could greatly reduce our pain, as well as decrease the risk of future repetitive strain injuries.
This article will talk about my most effective ways of neck and back pain prevention from computer use. Image via ChatGPT.
This article will talk about why computer use causes neck and back pain. Then, it’ll cover ergonomic desk setup tips for reducing and preventing neck and back pain from sitting.
I used to do hot yoga on a regular basis. I stopped practicing back in 2013. Since then, my workouts have consisted of weightlifting and steel mace exercises. I’ve also spent a lot of time in the dry sauna before and after workouts.
But I don’t do exercises while I’m in the sauna. I focus on breathing deep and slow. The sauna helps improve my blood flow and warm up my muscles. It’s helped improve my workouts a lot. But I’ve been focusing a little too much on strengthening, not enough on stretching. I’ve been looking to add movement and stretches to my exercise practice, while focusing on my breathing in a heated room. So naturally, I’ve started practicing hot yoga again.
Can hot yoga improve computer posture? Image via ChatGPT.
After getting back into hot yoga recently, the first 2 months were very surprising. Sometimes a pose will come up in class, I’ll immediately remember how painful that pose used to be. But surprisingly, I’ll usually get into that pose and feel better than I did back in 2013. I can attribute this to a lot of variables of my computer ergonomic practice. One, I’ve been practicing healthy posture habits at a computer since 2011. And two, I’ve been practicing low-toxin living since January of 2024.
Can Hot Yoga Improve Computer Posture?
This article will talk about my experience with hot yoga. I’ll cover how I’ve used yoga for ergonomic health at work. I’ll also talk about the posture benefits of a regular hot yoga practice. Most importantly, I’ll talk about how hot yoga combats computer-related pain.
I sat at a computer desk with poor posture for 10 years until I’d finally had enough. Poor computer posture caused muscle tension, chronic pain, decreased work productivity, and lack of energy.
Once I committed to improving my sitting ergonomics for better health, I was surprised how simple most of the computer posture tips I learned were. It was one thing to learn the best ways to improve posture at the computer. It was another thing to maintain those posture correction tips on a daily basis.
Simple tips to improve your posture at a computer. Image via ChatGPT.
This article will talk about 3 of my favorite methods to improve posture at your computer desk. It’ll talk about how office ergonomics is so much more than just a healthy sitting posture. These are simple posture hacks for office workers that are so easy, you’ll be glad you’re here.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a painful condition where a nerve in the wrist gets compressed. I suffered through this wrist pain for years. I thought it was just a part of my life going forward. If I wanted to have an office-based career where I worked on a computer, I’d have carpal tunnel syndrome from typing, indefinitely.
But in my experience, the theory that wrist pain comes from the act of typing is a misconception. I had carpal tunnel syndrome from using an old-school, tall, bulky keyboard and mouse. I had to extend my wrists to lift my hands onto my tall keyboard and mouse. Holding this vulnerable wrist position for 8 hours a day is why the nerve in my wrist was compressed. It actually didn’t have anything to do with how much I was typing. Instead, it was the repetitive strain and overuse of constantly extending my wrists.
Tools to reduce wrist pain from computer use. Image via ChatGPT.
This article will explain how I prevent wrist pain by typing correctly. It will also talk about ergonomic tools to reduce wrist pain. Finally, it will talk about how I strengthen my wrists away from my desk, which is also a method of wrist pain relief for computer users.
Sitting at a computer desk 8 hours a day is an endurance event. It’s working in a position of light-intensity, for a long-duration of time. Humans can get into this vulnerable position with no problem. But we’re not designed to stay in that position for long periods of time.
Stretching Versus Strengthening: The Fine Line Between Balancing the Two. Image via ChatGPT.
As office workers, some of our muscles experience excessive inactivity. The rest of our muscles are put through repetitive strain and overuse. Sitting posture causes some muscles to shorten and some to lengthen. With this type of muscle confusion, we need to make sure we are stretching and strengthening our muscles.
This article will talk about how I improve flexibility with stretching, as well as how I build muscle strength.
Computer ergonomics is one of those topics they don’t teach much about in school. The only time I learned about it was in college. And that’s only because I was an Information Technology major. It was a 101 intro class about basic computer knowledge. We covered ergonomics for about 2 days. That was it.
As athletes, how many times has a trainer explained how to do a squat correctly? Or how to improve our bench press, so we can push 10 more pounds?
How many times has a coach taught us how to shoot a basketball? Or throw a baseball?
Computer Ergonomics for Athletes. Image via ChatGPT.
Sitting at a computer may not be a sport, but it is an endurance event.
It’s very different from a marathon, which is high-impact and high-intensity. Sitting at a computer is a low-intensity, long-duration event that can cause repetitive strain and overuse injuries. These computer-related injuries can cause chronic pain, muscle tension, and joint dysfunction.
Posture is the position we hold our bodies at a computer. Ergonomics is the study of our efficiency at a computer. Posture is only one ergonomic variable. If you’d like to learn about computer posture tips, I wrote an article titled Computer Posture for Athletes.
The rest of this article won’t talk about posture, specifically. It will focus on the other ergonomic variables that are important for office workers who are athletes. These variables include sleep quality, hydration, breathing, and nutrition. Even though some of them don’t actually take place at our computer desk, they’re still an important part of my computer ergonomics practice.
Athletes are at peak performance when they’re active, strong, flexible, and energetic. But a computer user is forced to be the exact opposite of those adjectives. When we sit at a computer for long periods of time, we’re inactive, weak, tight, and tired.
These computer-related posture issues create big problems for athletes. Not only at our office desk, but also in the gym and on the playing field.
Computer Posture for Athletes. Image via ChatGPT.
This article will talk about my favorite ways of computer posture correction, which will improve athletic performance. It’ll also cover ways of preventing future injuries from poor computer posture in athletes.
In 2011, I was broken from poor computer posture. I also had low energy, brain fog, and low work productivity. That same year, I implemented as many healthy computer habits into my daily routine as possible.
Thanks for reading my computer posture guide. Image via ChatGPT.
Proper desk posture, while working on a computer, is the most important variable of computer ergonomics (in my opinion). This article will talk about how to improve posture while using a computer, as well as how to prevent computer-related injuries.
Chronic neck pain was one of the worst issues I had before I corrected my computer posture. But the act of “sitting” at a computer didn’t cause my neck pain. Because computer-related neck pain can also occur when working at a standing workstation.
Why does sitting at a computer cause neck pain? Photo by People Images via Megapixl.
So if it wasn’t the act of “sitting” that was causing my pain, what was it? This article will talk about a few different computer posture mistakes that caused my chronic neck pain and tension. It will also provide office work neck pain solutions.
I enjoy sharing products with my readers that’ve improved my computer posture, not to mention my quality of life. I’m not compensated by any companies who make the products I’ll mention in this article. I paid my own money for all of them.
This photo contains some of the best computer posture correction devices in my opinion. Photo by Norbert Levajsics via Unsplash.
This article will talk about my favorite computer posture correction devices. 3 of them are beneficial in creating a healthy workstation setup. The other 2 are great recovery devices to use away from your working environment. But they are still directly related to improving your computer posture.
For 10 years, I sat with poor computer posture everyday for 8 hours a day. I didn’t even know what the word “ergonomics” meant.
Ergonomics means “the study of people’s efficiency in their working environment.” But in my opinion, ergonomics doesn’t only take place inside the “working environment.” Posture takes place in the working environment. And posture is an important variable of ergonomics. Arguably, the most important variable.
The Ultimate Guide to Ergonomic Computer Posture. Image by Kiosea39 via Megapixl.
But what about sleep quality. If I get terrible sleep the night before work, I’m going to get to work tired. This means my computer posture will suffer much quicker that day, opposed to a day where I got 8 hours of quality sleep the night before. In my mind, sleep is an important variable of computer ergonomics.
This article will talk about different variables of computer ergonomics that’ve helped improve my posture. Some of them occur in the working environment. And some occur outside of it. The computer ergonomic variables covered in this article will be:
A sedentary lifestyle causes excessive muscle tension, dysfunction, and computer-related pain. When sitting in an office chair, some of our muscles are not used at all. These muscles are constantly deactivated while sitting, so they get weaker. At the same time, other muscles are overused to a point of dysfunction.
What is the tightest muscle caused by poor computer posture? Image by Eraxion via Megapixl.
But what muscle is affected the most? Is it an underused, or overused muscle group? This article will talk about the tightest muscle I had from sitting at a computer. The answer might not be the muscle you would expect.
Spinal disc degeneration is very common among office workers. Slouching forward at a computer for long periods of time is one of the most common causes of this painful posture problem.
What is spinal disc degeneration? Image by Eraxion via Megapixl.
I found out about my spinal disc degeneration by accident. In hindsight, I’d had symptoms of degenerative disc disease. There was pain and dysfunction in my neck and back. I just figured it was from overtraining, weightlifting, or running. At that point, I didn’t even know what spinal disc degeneration was. And I had no idea my pain was a computer-related injury.
But then I got rear-ended in a car accident. I got hit pretty hard, but it wasn’t serious. I went to the chiropractor to get x-rays done as a precaution. That’s when I learned about my disc degeneration. My chiropractor told me this wasn’t from the accident. Disc degeneration happens when the spine is held out of its neutral position, for long periods of time. This is the moment my chiropractor and I realized, sitting at a computer for a living was sending me down a painful path of degenerative disc disease, including neck and back pain.
I want my ergonomic workstation to be an asset that promotes good sitting posture the second I sit in my office chair. I need monitor height, elbow height, knee angle, and foot position to be correct immediately.
So, I shouldn’t have to move my body into a good computer posture position after I sit. This kind of workstation would be a liability that causes computer-related injuries. Good sitting posture should happen more naturally, as soon as I sit down. This requires a computer desk setup that’s custom fit for each office worker.
How to improve sitting posture. Image by Ocusfocus via Megapixl.
Correct sitting posture for office workers can vary for different people. There’s no single, correct way for everyone to sit at a computer. Desk workers are different heights, arm lengths, leg lengths, torso lengths, etc.
I write about my experience with making poor computer posture mistakes in the past. I also write about how I fixed those mistakes, in an effort to heal my computer-related pain, and prevent future computer injuries.
A common phrase among office workers is, “Sitting is the new smoking.” We all know it’s unhealthy. But what are the actual causes of poor sitting posture? We need to learn what computer posture mistakes to avoid first, before we can implement healthy habits of a sedentary lifestyle.
What causes bad sitting posture? Photo by Kuprevich via Megapixl
You would think our bodies are at rest when we sit. That’s true for a lot of our muscles. They are deactivated and underused when sitting at a computer. The rest of our muscles are constantly activated. This causes repetitive strain and overuse injuries to those muscles and their tendons.
I’ve suffered negative effects from sitting on my glutes for years. Just because we sit 8 hours a day, it doesn’t mean we’re successfully resting our muscles during that time.
Sitting at a computer for 8 hours a day is an endurance event. Most of our muscles are deactivated, but the rest are being overused excessively. Repetitive strain and overuse injuries are occurring in some muscles. While others are inactive, causing weak muscles that sometimes stop firing altogether. This is what happened to my gluteus muscles, after many years of sitting for long periods of time.
What is dead butt syndrome? Photo by Mystock88photo via Megapixl.
This article will talk about (in hindsight) the signs of glute inactivation. It will also talk about different negative effects of sitting on glutes. Finally, it will go over how to fix (and prevent) dead butt syndrome.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome has very negative effects on a sedentary lifestyle. It used to cause me decreased mental clarity, decreased work productivity, even time off work. IBS also contributed to my anxiety, depression, and fatigue.
I went to multiple doctors. One told me to take fiber pills. Those didn’t help at all. Another gave me a list of fiber-rich foods to include in my diet. But it just made me feel bloated. I even went to physical therapy that specialized in the functionality of the pelvic floor.
In theory, all these treatments would help. But what I didn’t understand was: the unhealthy, fast foods I was eating made healing irritable bowel syndrome an uphill battle for me.
This article is my IBS personal success story. Image by Vchalup via Megapixl.
This article will talk about the IBS diet and lifestyle changes I made at the end of 2022. Overcoming irritable bowel syndrome challenges wasn’t easy for me. Doctors didn’t help much. I learned most of these natural remedies for IBS relief either on my own, or on the internet. So, it only felt right to share my IBS personal success story in an article.
Figuring out what office posture errors we need to correct can be overwhelming. I started correcting my computer-related posture problems in 2011. I knew I was in an incorrect sitting position at a computer (8 hours a day). But I didn’t know where to begin. I decided to fix my workstation posture problems one by one.
Common computer posture mistakes. Photo my Anabgd via Megapixl.
This article will talk about 3 of the most common posture errors at work. It will also talk about how I corrected those bad computer posture mistakes.
