One of the most common issues we see at Dynamic Physio is people who have injured themselves due to an underlying issue or weakness caused by poor posture at work.
Do you sit at a desk all day? You could benefit from physiotherapy to address underlying weaknesses before they lead to a more serious injury.
There is a lot of research around about how our sedentary lifestyle is causing a multitude of health issues. This is where the phrase “Sitting is the new smoking” comes from.
From a physiotherapy perspective, some of the injuries we see which are caused by sitting at a computer are:
- Back pain
- Neck pain
- Tension headaches
- Shoulder pain
- Arm/Elbow/Wrist pain
The main cause of these injuries is due to poor posture, and the fact that sitting still requires us to hold parts of our body steady for long periods of time.
So what can you do to prevent these types of injuries?
The #1 thing you can do is to take regular breaks from sitting.
Here’s some ideas:
- Stand up to make your phone calls
- Have meetings outside, perhaps while walking around the block
- Physically get up and go speak to a colleague, rather than emailing them
- Schedule short breaks between work tasks and allow yourself to stand and stretch for 3 minutes
The second thing you should do is sort out the ergonomics of your workstation.
Make sure the desk and chair are at an appropriate height, and that you don’t have to strain your neck or eyes to see your computer screen. Take a look at this graphic for more detail on the idea work setup:
Do you already have aches and pains caused by sitting at a desk? The Dynamic Physio team can help, trust us we see this ALL THE TIME. Make an appointment today, and we’ll get you feeling like yourself again.