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.
Good posture can help prevent many injuries.
Sitting at a computer for extended periods of time is an endurance event. It may not resemble a long run or bike ride. However, there are a lot of similarities. Even though we are sitting, we are constantly activating the same muscles over and over for an 8 hour period. Repetitive strain and overuse injuries are much less painful for me when I am sitting with good posture and able to hold this position longer.
There are many benefits of improving neck and back posture.
The most important to me is less risk of spinal disc degeneration. Disc degeneration occurs when we hold our spine in a compromised position for extended periods of time. Any position where we lose the natural curves in our spine can cause this spinal disc degeneration. Years ago, I had an x-ray done after a car accident. The x-ray showed stage 1 of spinal disc degeneration. The doctor told me this wasn’t related to the accident. It’s not something that happens during a trauma. It was due to the slouching, poor posture position I worked in at a computer. The extended periods of time I would hold this position were the cause of my disc degeneration. Since then, I’ve improved my poor posture and my spinal disc degeneration hasn’t progressed past stage 1.
Some other important benefits of improving neck and back posture are decreasing pain, increasing energy, improving mental clarity, and increasing work productivity. The majority of the content I write is related to my experience of sitting at a computer. This includes the poor posture mistakes I’ve made and the good posture habits I’ve implemented into my daily life. Today, I’m sharing my tried and tested strategies on how you can effectively improve your back and neck posture.
How To Improve Neck And Back Posture
Avoid forward head posture
Forward head posture is when our head is tilted forward in front of our torso. This puts a heavy strain on the neck and shoulder, causing neck pain and tension. One common postural mistake that causes this is working from a laptop for extended periods of time. We typically look down at a 45 degree angle to work on a laptop. This can easily lead to forward head posture. One way to avoid this is to use an external monitor. They plug in to your laptop easily with an HDMI cable. This allows us to keep the top of the monitor screen eye level. That prevents us from having forward head posture, even though we are still working on a laptop.
Avoid text neck posture
Text neck happens when you tuck your chin to look down at your phone and hold this position for extended periods of time. It may not seem like a big deal to look down a small amount, but it adds up over time leading to neck pain and poor neck posture. The front of our neck muscles shorten and become incredibly tight. The neck muscles on the back of our neck lengthen and become overused. This causes a lot of confusion in the front and back neck muscles. It can also lead to a tight chest.
One way I’ve limited the amount of time I look down at my phone is to use a gooseneck phone holder as much as possible. They are available on Amazon and the manufacturer is Lamicall. (This is not paid promotion. It’s a product I bought with my own money, that has greatly improved my head posture, as well as back and neck posture).
Maintain natural curves throughout the spine
Our spines were meant to move and bend into different ranges of motion. But they weren’t designed to be held in those compromised positions for extended periods of time. It takes a lot of body awareness to know we are sitting in a slouched or overextended position. It’s not always painful, but it could still be causing damage. It’s very important to understand the natural curves of the spine. Then, it’s just as important to maintain those natural curves as much as possible throughout our workday. There are different regions of the spine. The main regions are cervical, thoracic, and lumbar. It’s important to know where they are and which direction they curve in. Basically, the cervical region is mostly in the neck. The thoracic spine is the upper and mid back. The lumbar spine is in the lower back.
Keep elbows shoulder width apart
One poor posture mistake that caused me stubborn neck pain was letting my elbows flare out to the side, away from my body. They would basically be at a 45 degree angle. This would cause my neck posture to suffer. The muscles in the front of my neck shortened. The muscles on the back of my neck lengthened. I eventually corrected this into a good posture habit by raising my chair. This way I could comfortably rest my hands on the keyboard and mouse, while keeping my elbows shoulder width apart and close to my body.
Thanks for your interest in sitting posture. If you’ve read this far, congratulations! You’re taking valuable steps to improve your posture and reduce back and neck pain. That’s something to be proud of.
If this article was helpful, check out my book titled “45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture.” It’s available in both digital and paperback versions.
>>> Click here to pick up your copy
This book explains how to improve your posture through different variables of health and wellness. These include sitting posture, standing posture, sleep, hydration, and breathing. Poor posture is not just how we sit at a computer. The health habits we practice, 24 hours a day, are directly related to how good (or bad) our computer posture is.
Go to SittingPosture.com/book to learn more.
Take care,
Todd Bowen
P.S. You can sign up for my free computer posture newsletter here.