I first experienced knee pain back in 2011. I thought it was from overtraining while running and lifting weights. Both of my knees were in a lot of pain. I stopped training all together for 6 months. My knee pain didn’t decrease at all over that period of time.
One thing that didn’t change over those 6 months, I was still working in a sitting posture at a computer for long periods of time. The running and lifting weights may have been contributed to my knee pain, but my poor computer posture was the main cause that started it. It caused tight, overused muscles in my legs. Which led to dysfunction of my knee. The tendons attaching my leg muscles to the bone in my knees became inflamed and painful. This knee pain was an effect of my poor sitting posture.
This article is not professional medical advice. It’s based off my personal experience and opinions. For years, my poor computer posture caused muscle tension, inflammation, and chronic pain. All the workplace ergonomic tips I write about are directly related to improving posture at a computer. We are our own primary caretakers. Do your research. Make good decisions. And be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare.
How to Prevent Knee Pain When Sitting
Before we can fix poor computer posture, we have to understand what we’re doing wrong first.
Why do I get knee pain from sitting too long?
In my experience, knee pain was caused by not keeping my feet flat on the floor while in sitting posture. I would contract my hamstrings, which would pull my feet underneath my chair. My knees were overextended. But worse than that, I kept them in that compromised, overextended position for long periods of time, up to 8 hours a day.
In the above image, notice this user’s incorrect foot posture. His feet are pulled underneath his body. His knees are at much less than a 90 degree angle. They’re basically at a 45 degree angle. This overextends the quadriceps, along with their tendons that attach to bone at the knee joint.
After sitting like this long term, my hamstrings were shortened, along with the tendons on the back of my knee. My quadriceps were lengthened, along with the tendons on the front of my knee. The back of my knee had stiffness from sitting because of too much compression. But the front of my knee is where I would feel the pain from too much overextension of the knees.
I had increased risk of knee pain due to stress from my job, as well as my chair being too low. When my chair was too low, my knees were too high. I would pull my feet under my chair to relieve pressure on my hip flexors. I was basically correcting one problem, but causing another at the same time. My hips were in a better, neutral position. But my knees were overextended and inflamed.
This was a short, quick explanation about the cause of my knee discomfort. I wrote a more extensive article titled, Why Does Sitting at a Computer Cause Knee Pain? Feel free to check it out here.
How to relieve knee pain from sitting
Now that we understand what caused my sitting posture knee pain, let’s talk about some proactive ways I prevent it in the future.
I keep my Feet flat on the floor at all times when in sitting posture.
I want to make sure my knees are at least at a 90 degree angle when I’m in sitting posture. If the angle is slightly greater than 90 degrees, that’s okay with me too. I still consider this a neutral, balanced position for the leg muscles and the knee joints.
To find this correct sitting posture, I make sure I keep my feet flat on the floor at all times. This is the easiest way for me to know my knees are at a 90 degree angle or slightly greater.
In the above image, this user has good foot posture while in sitting at a computer. His knees are bent at a comfortable angle (slightly more than a 90 degree angle). He has his feet flat on the floor and not pulled back underneath him. That’s how we know the hamstrings are in a balanced, neutral position.
i Switch from sit to stand positions multiple times throughout the day.
One way to avoid knee pain is to stop sitting for long periods of time. I can get the same amount of work done, if not more, when I switch from sit to stand positions multiple times throughout the day. Having a desk that is height adjustable makes this transition very easy.
This user shows an example of correct posture while standing at her height adjustable computer desk. Standing posture at a computer is a great way for me to naturally lengthen the psoas and hamstring muscles. Muscle tension in these 2 muscle groups were a big contributor to my knee pain caused by sitting at a computer.
Notice how she has one of her knees bent. This is an acceptable position, as long as she doesn’t stand with the same knee bent for long periods of time. It’s important to switch up. Keep the right knee bent for a while. Then, left knee bent for a while.
Standing on a hard floor for long periods also caused me to suffer from some knee pain. I was able to relieve this problem and avoid knee pain by standing on an anti-fatigue mat. I got mine for $14 on Amazon (not paid promotion).
THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST IN COMPUTER POSTURE.
If you’ve read this far, congratulations! You’re taking valuable steps to reduce computer-related injuries by improving your posture. That’s something to be very proud of!
If you liked this article on desk job knee pain, check out my free ebook titled 3 Ways to Improve Computer Posture Immediately!
>>> Click here to download your free copy
This ebook is a great supplement to the article you just read. In this ebook, you’ll learn 3 of the most painful, poor computer posture mistakes. Then, you’ll learn how to fix those mistakes immediately with 3 simple changes to your ergonomic computer desk setup.
Go to SittingPosture.com/ebook to learn more.
Take care,
Todd Bowen