Printed in the Telegraph on Saturday 29th January was an article that wrote: “working from home has caused a posture pandemic”.
I welcome the journalist bringing awareness to this area, but I hate to break this to them; this isn’t new.
I’ve been working as a Chiropractor for the last ten years, and before that as a personal trainer. This posture pandemic began a long time before working from home was a thing.
Setting up a better ergonomic space will help you, but this is a drop in the ocean compared to the main culprits of your aches and pains.
So let’s look at what they are:
Sitting – reshapes your posture:
In my new book “The Back Doctor School of Health” (available on Amazon), I explain why sitting is so bad for our health and suggest solutions to sitting.
The physical effects of a poor sitting posture are that our centre of gravity is altered from the belly button when standing, to level with the heart when sitting.
This is why people who regularly sit for a long period get pulled forward, rounding their shoulders and causing a forward head posture; these changes make us more susceptible to aches and pains.
In addition, some scientific studies suggest prolonged sitting is worse than a regular smoking habit!
Inactivity – makes you sick:
Sedentary office workers sitting for prolonged periods are at increased risk of long term neck pain, as well as health problems like all-cause mortality.
According to Kelly Starrett’s book “Deskbound”, we can expect to suffer an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cancers along the way to death-by-sitting.
Even if you regularly exercise, you cannot undo the damage prolonged sitting does.
Mindset- shapes our posture:
If we talk about posture, we must talk about mindset because they are interlinked; how you think and feel affects your posture.
For example, imagine a shy person’s posture compared with someone confident.
For the former, you probably imagined someone with poor posture, with rounded shoulders that looked smaller in stature in contrast to the power pose of the person with confidence.
Summary Of The Posture Pandemic:
There are many solutions to the problem of prolonged sitting, and standing is one of them.
I wrote this blog by standing. Setting up a standing area is very easy. It is a natural shape for you to stay in for prolonged periods, which will prevent postural issues and the insidious harmful effects of prolonged sitting.
I often look at people in their ergonomic space and think they are shaping themselves to the space instead of shaping the space to themselves.
The Back Doctor
I offer an assessment and advice on ergonomic space and will design a space for you if you wish.
Posture isn’t about just sitting; posture is a holistic whole of your active and stationary movements.
At The Back Doctor, we help build a regular exercise routine in addition to physical therapy sessions improving your posture, helping you avoid the sitting trap door.
If this has made you think about your own ergonomic space or posture problems and you want to know more, we offer a free phone consultation with one of our chiropractors.
Please feel free to contact us on 01444 453 888, or book an appointment on our website.