February 14th, 2023

Posture, posture, posture!
As many of us settle into the "Work From Home" life, we might just need the occasional reminder about our work postures. Hopefully we've progressed from the dining table and chair to a proper workstation and ergonomic office chair. And if so, I certainly hope we are setting ourselves up correctly to minimize stress on our muscles and joints. 

Regular postural changes are key. Our bodies weren't designed to sit all day. Frequent, regular movement helps to nourish our joints and produce contractions in our muscles and tendons to help reduce the stress on passive structures like our ligaments and discs.

When we stand, postural muscles are continually contracting to hold our body upright and prevent us from losing our balance. When we sit for long periods, contractions in these large muscle group are mainly absent. This means our muscles switch off, and the passive structures like ligaments and joints absorb more stress. In comes the back pain, neck pain, headaches and so forth... 

Reducing sitting time by taking frequent breaks and implementing strategies around postural change are the most recognized strategies to reducing the likelihood of developing musculoskeletal symptoms. Having a qualified and trained professional assess your workstation can help prevent musculoskeletal symptoms from occurring and soft tissue injuries from developing. 

If you would like a free pdf copy of our ergonomic workstation set up flyer, email [email protected] 

Example of a poor laptop workstation design which can lead to neck and back pain