SittingPosture.com

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.

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:

• posture
• hydration
• nutrition
• sleep quality
• breathing

Continue reading The Ultimate Guide to Ergonomic Computer Posture

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.

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.

Continue reading What is the Tightest Muscle Caused by Poor Computer Posture?

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.

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.

Continue reading What is Spinal Disc Degeneration?

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.

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.

Continue reading How to Improve Sitting Posture

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.

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.

Continue reading What Causes Bad Sitting Posture?

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.

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.

Continue reading What is 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 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.

Continue reading Irritable Bowel Syndrome: How I Fixed my IBS

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.

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.

Continue reading 3 Common Computer Posture Mistakes

When I got my degree in Information Technology, computer ergonomics was the topic that stood out to me the most. Probably because of my interests in sports and exercise. But from 2001 to 2011, I dealt with the effects of poor computer posture for 8 hours a day. In 2011, I started practicing as much sitting posture correction possible.

I’ve gotten great health benefits from correct sitting posture. This article will talk about 5 of those benefits. It will also include links to other articles about computer posture tips.

Continue reading 5 Benefits of Good Computer Posture

I used to suffer chronic neck pain and muscle tension from sitting at a computer. These computer-related injuries built up over an extended period of time. They didn’t really hurt, or affect my life, in the beginning. But after months, then years of sitting with poor neck posture at a computer, the pain and dysfunction came on strong. By that point, I had a lot of work to do before I got computer neck pain relief.

This article will go over my favorite methods of neck pain prevention for computer users. It will also cover my favorite computer neck pain remedies.

Continue reading Computer Neck Pain Remedies

When I was younger, I thought making a living from a computer was the way to go. And it still can be. The ability to make money from a computer is very valuable. But I had no idea how many increased health risks come along with a sedentary lifestyle.

Making a living with a computer doesn’t have to hurt. There are plenty of ways to improve computer posture, decrease pain, and prevent computer-related injuries.

This article will cover 6 of my most valuable desk worker health tips. Keep in mind that I talk about my own personal experience, while living a computer desk worker lifestyle. These are not necessarily recommendations for everyone. They are simply how I corrected my poor computer posture, and ways I prevent computer-related pain in the future.

Continue reading Desk Worker Health Tips

Posture is the position we hold our bodies in. Ergonomics is the study of people’s efficiency in the workplace. Posture is one variable of ergonomics. But it takes more than good posture to prevent computer-related injuries.

For example, if I have poor sleep quality, my computer posture will suffer quicker the next day. If I’m dehydrated at my computer desk, my muscles will tense up quicker. If my breathing is shallow due to stress, that will affect my posture negatively.

This article will serve as a computer ergonomics guide. It will go over healthy habits of how to have good computer posture. It will also go over ergonomic variables like sleep quality, hydration, and breathing.

Continue reading Computer Ergonomics Guide

Laptops are designed to be incredibly convenient. They give us the ability to work remotely from anywhere in the world. But they are not designed to be ergonomic, not at all. There are major health risks possible if we do not practice healthy laptop posture habits.

An ergonomic laptop setup is critical to prevent computer-related pain. This article will contain frequently asked questions (and answers) that serve as a laptop ergonomics guide.

Continue reading Best Posture for Working on a Laptop All Day

Most computer posture mistakes have easy fixes. Once we correct sitting posture at a desk, the hard part is consistently practicing these healthy habits.

This article will talk about 5 painful computer posture mistakes I used to make. Then, it’ll talk about the 5 computer posture tips I used to fix these mistakes and prevent pain at a computer.

Continue reading Computer Posture Mistakes

It sounds crazy to think we can get knee pain from sitting at a computer. It’s a common misconception that we aren’t using our leg muscles when we sit. However, that’s not true.

We definitely use our leg muscles when we sit, especially if we don’t have correct foot position at a computer. Incorrect foot position causes us to activate more of our leg muscles. We want to minimize muscle activation in the legs when sitting. The more relaxed our legs are, the less we’ll suffer knee pain from sitting positions.

This article will describe the best desk posture to avoid knee pain. After that, it’ll describe some knee health tips for office workers we can practice (away from our desks).

Continue reading Correct Knee Position While Sitting at a Computer

When it comes to computer posture, I believe everything is temporary. A permanent curve in the spine will only happen if we never implement good computer ergonomics. How do I correct my poor computer posture quickly? And how long it will take? Those are the important questions.

This article will talk about how slouching affects spine alignment. Then, it’ll talk about how to prevent permanent spine curvature from slouching.

Continue reading Will Slouching Cause a Permanent Curve in my Spine?

I used to have poor office posture and headaches would occur multiple times a month. But headaches are common among everyone, not just desk workers. So does that mean poor posture causes headaches? Regardless, bad computer posture can definitely lead to increased risk of muscle tension and head pain.

I’m not interested in how to relieve headaches once they’ve already started. I mean, that’s good info to have. But I want to get more down to the bottom of the cause. How can I prevent sitting position headaches before they happen? And why were my headaches always happening around the same time of afternoon? It wasn’t a coincidence that I’d been sitting at a computer for 7 hours when my headaches would typically start.

Continue reading Does Bad Computer Posture Cause Headaches?

Office chair ergonomics can be a complex topic. My goal is to explain it in an easy, understandable, actionable process. I like to provide the minimal amount of information, that will yield the most results for desk worker health.

This article will be debunking one of the most common posture myths. “Sit up straight” is not exactly clear advice. And although it could correct a desk worker from slouching forward, it could cause other postural dysfunction.

Sitting up too straight could take our spine out of a neutral position and cause it to be overextended. More specific, accurate advice would be to, “Sit with a balanced, neutral spine.”

Continue reading Computer Posture: Why “Sit Up Straight” is Bad Advice

I started this website back in 2012. At that point, I had a sedentary lifestyle for 11 years. I worked a minimum of 8 hours a day in a compromised, improper sitting position. In addition to my postural dysfunction, bad sitting posture had a major impact on my productivity and mental clarity.

I created this website to be the resource I wish I had back in 2001, when I first started sitting at a computer for long periods of time. Also, I wanted to learn how to correct bad sitting posture at my desk.

I started implementing all the slouching at desk solutions I could. Also, I wanted to share my story with others, so they could learn from my experience. With my technology background, I created SittingPosture.com. And with my writing background, I wrote a book titled 45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture.

This article will talk about common sitting posture mistakes. Then, it’ll talk about how to fix sitting posture. Finally, I’ll answer some frequently asked questions on how to properly sit at a computer desk.

Continue reading Sitting Posture Mistakes and Fixes

Posture is the position we hold our bodies in. Ergonomics is the study of peoples’ efficiency in their working environment.

As office workers, computer posture always takes place while we’re at our workstations. In my opinion, office ergonomics should be considered even when we’re away from our desks. To have good computer ergonomics, we should be intentional about all of our healthy habits. Especially, those that contribute directly to how good our computer posture is.

This article will talk about the comparison of posture vs ergonomics. It’ll also answer some frequently asked questions about the ergonomics and posture relationship.

Continue reading What’s the difference between posture and ergonomics?