How Sitting at Your Desk Can be Bad for Your Health, and What You Can Do About It!

Research shows that 80% of the population will experience a back-related injury in their lifetime.

Back injuries, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and other repetitive stress injuries cost U.S. industry $60 billion per year. Lifestyles of millions of people are affected by the pain and discomfort of these unnecessary injuries.

The best way to treat these injuries is through prevention. Proper sitting posture is crucial in the prevention of repetitive stress disorders.

Here are a few simple steps to maintain proper sitting posture:

Your feet should be flat on the floor (or foot stool) and slightly in front of your knees. Do not cross your legs as this will compress important blood vessels and nerves. Crossing at the ankle is acceptable.

Your hips should be slightly above the level of your knees to create an open angle. This will keep your blood vessels and nerves from being pinched and your hip flexor muscles from becoming too tight.

You should always sit “deep in the seat” with your trunk 90-100 degrees to your pelvis while active on the keyboard. During meetings or long phone conversations your trunk can be slightly extended backwards.

Your head should be over your shoulders, looking straight at the monitor. Your monitor should be at eye level and never off to the side causing head rotation. Your monitor should also be within arm’s-length (finger tips should be able to touch the screen).

Your wrists should be flat and slightly below the level of your elbow. This, too, creates an open angle allowing proper blood and nerve flow. Your elbows should also be in at the sides with no winging.

The human body is not made to sit in front of a computer for 8 hours per day. Even with the best ergonomics, it is still stressful on the body. You should literally think of your job as an exercise. Just like any athlete, you must warm up before and during with stretches. Micro breaks with stretching exercises can reduce the buildup of repetitive stress and help to prevent injury.