Posture Impacts our Health
OUCH! Have you noticed new aches and pains since working from home (WFH)? You’re not alone! These new aches and pains might be due to how you work. It’s possible you may have swapped your desk chair for a couch or are now using a smaller laptop vs the three monitors you had at the office - and are feeling the consequences of this change. Here are a few ideas you may find helpful to mitigate the OUCH and help you on your journey to true self and body awareness.
The Neck
Image from Health Matters
Our skull is heavy! Inclining our heads forward (such as when scrolling online) also puts strain on the rest of the body. Without changing anything at all, notice your posture right now. Is your jaw open? An open jaw is sometimes an indicator of poor alignment causing faulty muscle recruitment. This can lead to Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMJ), fatigue, upper back pain and headaches. Now try bringing your spine into its natural S-curve and imagining having a beautiful crown on your head, gazing in the direction of the horizon. Simply lifting the cellphone a little higher instead of looking down and being mindful of your jaw alignment can help foster self-awareness of your posture.
The Pelvis
Our pelvis is the tipping point for our postural-health; its positioning impacts both the upper and lower extremities. Finding and learning about neutral pelvis alignment is helpful when developing body awareness for better posture. Stand up and notice how you are standing at this moment. Do you have most of your body weight on one foot? This uneven weight-sharing over the feet shifts and tilts the pelvis, causing misalignment through your spine and imbalance down through the feet. How do you normally sit?
Image from Clipart.email
In the middle of the picture, notice her smiling face as she’s seated correctly with her pelvis in neutral, not tilted forward, nor tucked under. Experiment! Observe what happens to your spine, back, and shoulders when the pelvis is out of alignment. Correcting this centered-piece can help the rest of the body fall in line.
The 3 Checks
Learn The 3 Checks to help develop body awareness while sitting at your desk.
1) Eyes on the horizon
2) Legs parallel to the floor
3) Feet grounded on the earth
✔Eyes on the horizon: we suggest bringing your spine into its natural S-curve and imagining having a beautiful crown on your head, gazing in the direction of the horizon. As you have your virtual meetings on Zoom and Microsoft Teams – do your coworkers see your ceiling? If so, that may be an indication that your monitor is too low and you are needing to look down to view your screen.
✔Legs parallel to the floor: How do you normally sit? Do your cross your legs or ankles? Is your spine perching forward slightly. We suggest a neutral pelvis position that allows your legs to be relaxed and thighs as close to parallel as possible which will allow the spine to be naturally upright.
✔ Feet grounded on the earth: having the soles of your feet naturally on the floor or foot-stool helps create the foundation for good body-awareness.
To accomplish The 3 Checks, you may want to review and adapt your current home office set-up. Having the proper positioning with your monitor, table and chair helps establish best practices for your postural health. Is your chair too high for your feet to easily touch the floor? How’s the desk and monitor height? Take a moment to make some adjustments to the physical components to your WFH scenario to help you maintain your best self and body alignment.