6 Tips to Stop Pain At Your Desk Job
Does your body feel achy, stiff, and sore by the end of your work day? Does it interfere with your ability to be productive? Does it affect your overall mood when interacting with your clients and fellow co-workers? Does your family and friends enjoy being around you when you come home constantly complaining about feeling this way?
Working in a job that requires you to sit behind a desk for most of your shift can be very detrimental to your health and wellbeing resulting in various aches, pains, and other medical ailments. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, work-related musculoskeletal problems—from muscle strains to carpal tunnel syndrome—made up 32% of all worker injury and illness cases in 2014. Of course, many of these injuries are probably from people working labor intensive jobs but sitting hunched in front of a computer typing furiously and starring directly into a screen for eight plus hours per day for six days a week also does a significant number on your body.
Chances are you’re probably not giving up your desk job any time soon so the reality is you need to make some changes to your routine that your body will thank you for later. Today we are going to give you six simple tips you can implement today that has the potential to make you a more productive employee free of pain and stiffness. Think about it, going home at the end of a long work day feeling accomplished and not limited by achiness, stiffness, or soreness from sitting all day at your desk!
1. GET UP EVERY 30 MINUTES
Sitting at a desk all day may seem like a relatively simple task but believe it or not it is very fatiguing for your body. Our bodies function optimally when there is variability in movement. The longer you remain in the same position, the more your muscles and joints adapt making it difficult and uncomfortable to come out of that position. This can result in pain, stiffness, achiness, and tightness at the end of a long work day.
We recommend avoiding staying in the same position for more than a half an hour at a time. Stand up and walk around every half hour. Perform simple body stretches to avoid muscles and joints tightening and getting stiff. A good Physical Therapist is able to properly assess you and provide you with specific exercises and stretches for you to perform through out the day to avoid developing muscle imbalances.
2. SIT WITH SUPPORT
Sitting with support is essential to maintaining good posture when you have a desk job. Start by adjusting the height of your seat so that your feet are completely flat on the floor and your thighs are angled slightly down. This ensures that your weight is being distributed properly and not causing you to round out your lower back and shoulders. You can also purchase a lumbar support for your chair. A lumbar support helps promote good posture by simply filling in the gap between the lower part of your spine (lumbar spine) and the seat, supporting the natural inward curve of the lower back.
3. USE A WIRELESS HEADSET
Many employees who use a telephone for prolonged periods of time during the day find themselves constantly holding the phone up to their ear or holding the phone between their head and neck. This can result in significant neck and shoulder muscle tightness which can lead to headaches, a stiff neck, pinched nerves, or back tightness. An easy solution to modify this activity is to have your employer buy you a wireless headset to give your neck and shoulder muscles a break.
4. MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO YOUR WORK SPACE
Many people who work a desk job typically position their computer monitor too low. This puts unnecessary strain on the back of the neck and upper back area. Try adjusting your computer monitor so that it is in line with your chin. This position varies slightly depending on the specific height of your computer monitor. For example, a 13-inch monitor should be slightly higher than your chin height and a 24-inch monitor should be slightly lower. If you are forced to work on a laptop, try adding a secondary monitor that you are able to adjust to meet your individual specifications.
Setup your keyboard high enough so that your elbows are bent to 90 degrees to avoid unnecessary stress through your shoulders, forearms, and wrists. If your unable to adjust your keyboard, place it on your desk so it is not too low.
Try using a stand up or an adjustable desk. Work at your desk while standing and you’ll find an improvement in your posture and overall feeling by the end of your work day, which will overall alleviate the effects of sitting. It may take a while to build up to a full day of standing, but even half a day will do you good.
5. FIT IN A LUNCHTIME WORKOUT
If you want more out of your lunchtimes, try and fit in an afternoon workout at your local fitness studio or somewhere quiet in your office. Even if you are only able to fit in a 30 to 40 minute workout, you will feel the difference in your productivity and happiness levels when you return back to work. A study presented to the American College of Sports Medicine has found that those who workout for 30-60 minutes at lunch had an average performance boost of 15%. About 60% of employees claimed that time management, mental performance and ability to meet deadlines improved on the days they exercised.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Garrett Desrosiers PT, DPT
Garrett is the CEO and Co-Owner of ProResults Physical Therapy Inc. in San Marcos, CA (North San Diego County). Garrett has been helping on-the-go active adults and athletes across the south western United States return to a pain-free active lifestyle without medications, injections, surgery or making unnecessary trips to the physician’s office since 2015. He graduated in 2013 with his Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology then went on to receive his Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Husson University in 2015. After working for three years in multiple fast paced outpatient orthopedic physical therapy clinics, Garrett quickly realized he was not able to provide the elite quality care he knew his clients deserved. Garrett felt clients were more than just a number or diagnosis and that in order to provide the time, empathy, passion, and high-quality treatment they deserved, starting his own private practice was the only option. Garrett is committed to helping every client make the best decision in regard to their health. His unique, personalized, eclectic, multifaceted approach takes those individuals who have decreased their activities or stopped being active all together to a real solution.