It has been too long and will continue for most of us - working from home and running the daily tasks and kids. Too much to be perfect but there are always some key points which can help enormously.
Lets’ review together the ergo home settings. ( one biggie out of everything else we do and have a great impact on our body).
So many of my clients are dealing with headaches, back, shoulders, wrists, neck pain. And my first question is about their desk settings. And all of them think and state that everything is set correctly but I insist to review it and...this is not the case
So I decided to put together the main and the most important things for you all to review and try to match as much as possible.
Neck position - chin tucked and retracted - that helps tremendously for the neck tightness and headaches. If you are using a laptop and you need to look down - it is ok, just be sure you do it correctly following this neck position - keep the chin tucked and retracted and bring the head down from its top, not by protracting the chin forward (like a nod).
Sitting on the chair:
Feet are resting on the floor
Knees are relaxed to the side - don’t try to hold them or keep them together or inward
Hips are bent less than 90 degrees - knees have to be lower than the hips
Sitting - buttocks all the way to the back of the chair - try to sit at the bottom of the back of the chair so you feel a little push on the sacrum, then adjust the body up straight over the pelvis - at the beginning you may feel a little discomfort at the lower back ( or it will feel awkward, which is normal because you have never sat this way before and it is new to your body) but this will relax completely the sacrum area and the muscles and the body parts will be stacked correctly
When you sit, be sure you sit on your sitting bones or slightly infront of them instead your weight to fall behind your body - this is fatiguing affecting the lower back natural curve
All of the above is great for women because of the blood and lymph flow in the pelvic area.
elbows - relaxed next to your body, pointing down and slightly less than 90 degrees bent - this allows the wrists to be relaxed
wrists in neutral position with a support under them ( you can use a small towel or any kind of wrist cushion to keep them rested, not up in the air - this helps to type with fingers only without the wrist being involved
screen top 10-20 degrees under eye level, approximately arm length away from you and slightly tilted backwards
If you apply all these together I assure you - you can sit on your laptop in any environment and still be pain and tension free.
If you have done it incorrectly for a long time, when you start applying any of the above, at the beginning you will feel so awkward and not right - do not get discouraged - it takes time, consistency and practice in order to change a habit.
All of the above get down to:
Relaxed neck
Relaxed shoulders and arms
Relaxed wrists
Relaxed pelvis
Relaxed hips and legs
Proper weight distribution
Great posture
Great circulation
Efficient breathing
Less fatigue
Clear mind
No headaches
No tension
Increased level of productivity
No pain down the road
Maybe some of you are not aware of or you are wondering why you have aches and pains - have in mind that you spend hours behind the desk every day and sooner or later this will affect your body in a negative way.
This is the truth, believe me.