Posture help when sitting

jogdish

Hello,
So I get a lot of neck issues, poor neck extension/rotation leading to trapped nerves tingles down my arm and muscle ache/soreness across my back. All of this has been confirmed by my physio - respected and recommended by my GP. After physio it all feels better and IF I can mange to keep my exercises up I can keep things going along okay for months.

My big issue is sitting at work, neck goes forward and then the whole posture goes and within weeks im back to feeling crap again. Can anyone recommend how to fix my posture so that I sit correctly and feel comfortable doing it ? I'm guessing this involves increasing my upper/core muscles ?? Really would like to kick this for good at this point. Any exercise tips/stretching tips ?

size5

jogdish wrote: »

Hello,
So I get a lot of neck issues, poor neck extension/rotation leading to trapped nerves tingles down my arm and muscle ache/soreness across my back. All of this has been confirmed by my physio - respected and recommended by my GP. After physio it all feels better and IF I can mange to keep my exercises up I can keep things going along okay for months.

My big issue is sitting at work, neck goes forward and then the whole posture goes and within weeks im back to feeling crap again. Can anyone recommend how to fix my posture so that I sit correctly and feel comfortable doing it ? I'm guessing this involves increasing my upper/core muscles ?? Really would like to kick this for good at this point. Any exercise tips/stretching tips ?

In no particularly order-

1) is your sitting position correct, is computer raised to required height to do not have to bend head i.e get a good chair with lumbar support and computer stand.

2) do not sit for prolonged periods-get up and walk;

3) can you get a standing desk?;

4) put a reminder on phone every 20 mins to remind you about your posture:

5) from you post appears your physio has done a good job recommending you stretches so keep doing them;

jogdish

size5 wrote: »

In no particularly order-

1) is your sitting position correct, is computer raised to required height to do not have to bend head i.e get a good chair with lumbar support and computer stand.

2) do not sit for prolonged periods-get up and walk;

3) can you get a standing desk?;

4) put a reminder on phone every 20 mins to remind you about your posture:

5) from you post appears your physio has done a good job recommending you stretches so keep doing them;

1) sitting is pretty good, as eyes are about mid level of computer screen, i only have to glance at the computer anyways, mostly reading from desk
2)&4)have the timer thing
3)sadly no standing desk option is available
5) sadly the exercises only seem to be effective as a prevention not as a cure.

granty1987

Been meaning to buy it but havnt gotten around to it yet is a book called Deskbound; Sitting is the new smoking, by Kelly Starrett

I have his other two books which look at mobility and preventing injury from exercise and general life. He knows his stuff and id say this book will be at a similar standard.

Google "sitting mwod" and you will get a lot of hits for his videos on how to combat this. I would advise standing up as often as possible, even if it is just to realign your spine, rib cage and shoulders

My old company had hydraulic tables where at a touch of a button, you could change the desk height to stand at it - unbelievably good.

I dont have back problems, but do get shoulder issues, probably a lot due to slouching at a desk.

If you are mostly reading from the desk, why don't you get one of those pedistal things that props up the document on your desk to eye level? would stop you hunching over as much - same issue happens when looking at your phone all day - compromised body position

I have heard that those kneeling style chairs with no back are good but havnt tried them for any extended period of time

slicus ricus

There are a few key pieces of advice I would offer for this in terms of your seating position in work.

The number one best advice I ever got about sitting in work is that your knees should be below the level of your hips with your feet comfortably planted on the ground. In order to achieve this, you will need to have the part of the chair that you sit on at a downward slant. Some chairs will adjust to this sort of angle but most won't. If your chair does not adjust like this, the best thing to do is invest in a wedge for your chair, ideally one that's fairly strong and won't sink like a cushion! The reason for this is that when your hips are below your knee level, your core needs to be engaged in order to keep you upright with a correctly aligned/ neutral spine. In this position, you will not tilt your shoulders and head forward. In a position where your knees are parallel to or above your hip level, the natural inclination is to slouch in the chair and when you do that, you are not using your core muscles - if you repeat this daily, over time your core will weaken and you are likely to get locked into a forward tilting posture.

The second part of the equation is making sure your monitor is at the right height given the adjustment to your chair described above. I currently have 3 reams of paper under my monitor to make sure my eye level is at the top 1/3 of the screen when sitting with a neutral spine.

If you get the above right, you will then be in a good position to correct any imbalances you currently have and maintain a good posture in the long run once you have done so.