Bad Computer Posture? Try This Instead!

Worried about your poor posture at work? Apparently, you should actually exaggerate that posture. According to researchers, it will not take long until you realise how bad it is for your body.

To learn proper, strain-free posture while working at a computer, a team of American and Dutch researchers suggests that you should try sitting at the screen for a while with exaggeratedly poor posture to experience the effects.

Erik Peper, a professor of holistic health at an American university said “When your posture is tall and erect, the muscles of your back can easily support the weight of your head and neck – as much as 12 pounds (5.4kg).”

“But when your head juts forward at a 45-degree angle, your neck acts like a fulcrum – like a long lever lifting a heavy object. Now the muscle weight of your head and neck is the equivalent of about 45 pounds. It's not surprising people get stiff necks and shoulder and back pain.” 

In their first study, they asked 87 student volunteers to sit with their heads properly aligned directly over their necks, and to rotate them from side to side. Then, they had to just their heads forward and then rotate them. 92% of the participants reported their range of motion to be significantly better in the first position.

The researchers also monitored 12 students and found that neck muscle tension increased in the head-forward and scrunched-neck positions, while tension in the trapezius muscles on each side of the upper back increased in the latter position. 

The computer screen should match your eye level.

The researchers wrote “Most participants were totally surprised that 30 seconds of neck scrunching would rapidly increase symptoms and induce discomfort. Feeling and seeing – self-experience – is much more powerful than telling participants to adjust their postures.” 

If you want to increase your body’s awareness of proper computer posture, Peper recommends intentionally assuming a neck-scrunched/head-forward position. “You can exaggerate the position and experience the symptoms. Then when you find yourself doing it, you can become aware and stop,” he said. 

To avoid having to just your head forward to look down at a computer laptop screen, the researchers suggest having a detachable keyboard and placing the laptop on a stand so that it’s at eye level.

Source: The Star

 

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