1.) Phone Use / Reading Books:
Generally, we hold our phone or book in our lap and bend our neck and back forward to look down at it. This puts a lot of stress and tension on our neck and back muscles, which, over time (different for everyone), leads to fatigue and chronically aching muscles.
Solution:
Hold your book or device higher. If your arms or shoulders begin to ache, rest your elbows on your ribs or on a table or a couple of cushions.
2.) Standing Posture
Next time you are standing, take a moment to consider how you are standing.
Is there more pressure on your toes and balls of feet or your heels? Are you standing more on your left or right leg? Are you standing upright, with your chest pushed forward or pulled down towards your tummy, or are you more slumped, with your lower back?
Solution:
If you have problems or concerns about your balance, please hold onto something stable for this one, and we recommend that someone else is around.
To start, find your neutral position. When standing, keep your legs straight, then slowly move your hips and upper body forward. Before falling forward, tilt back onto your heels, then forward again – each time making the movement smaller. While doing this, note the pressure on the soles of your feet. For most people, a neutral position is when the pressure is just in front of their heels.
Now return to your starting position and rock from right to left, and again take note of the increased pressure on the soles of your feet. The ideal neutral position is when your weight is evenly distributed between both feet.
This exercise is really good for increasing awareness. When standing for a while, aim to return to a neutral position several times, say every 30 minutes.
3.) Working Desk Setup
This is where we can find ourselves falling into the screen, with tension building in the muscles of our neck, shoulders, back and arms.
Solution:
Some simple steps here can make a huge difference.
Firstly, if you can adjust your chair height, then do so. If not, consider using a cushion to sit on. You are aiming for your forearms to be flat on the desk with your elbows at 90 degrees and your shoulders relaxed.
Secondly, your eyeline should be level with the top of the screen. If the screen is lower, you can raise it by putting it on some books or similar. If using a laptop, consider getting a separate keyboard so that the screen can be raised.
Thirdly, if you are using a mouse, it should be placed close to the keyboard, so that your elbow remains bent when you are using it.
4.) Sitting on a sofa
We want to sink into a comfortable sofa and relax, especially when we deserve to have some “me time”.
The problem with this is that we stretch the back and gluteal muscles and shorten the hip flexors, leading to muscle imbalance and often a weaker core.
Solution:
Place a cushion in the small of your back, and if the base is sagging, either sit on another cushion or place a wooden board underneath. This allows you to relax, while supporting your back and spine in a neutral position, ensuring muscles are not overstrained.
5.) And finally, the biggest thing of all – keep moving.
Avoid staying in 1 position for too long, especially when sitting down.
If watching something on a screen, use the adverts to make yourself a drink, visit the toilet, or do a few squats.
If working, move the chair back every 20 minutes, roll your shoulders, turn your trunk from side to side, roll your ankles, straighten your knees, etc. Then, every hour, walk to another room and get the body’s circulation moving.
By following the above advice, most of you will start to see and, importantly, start to feel an improvement within a matter of weeks. If you can’t wait that long, or the above points don’t help, do contact us as soon as possible for help and advice.