How to sit correctly in an office chair to avoid back problems. When we stay in an incorrect posture for a long time, the spine loses its natural alignment causing pain, fatigue, and muscle tension.
How to sit correctly in the office? Some advice
In this post, we will tell you how to sit correctly in an office chair, but first, we will present some brief and simple tips, which, included in you daily routine, will bring you important benefits:
- To avoid the inconvenience of static work, nothing better than to get moving. Get up every now and then to relax.
- To avoid back pain, it is highly recommended to perform 2-minute micro – breaks every 45 minutes, doing stretches of the arms, legs, and spine. Take a break. Short, regular breaks are more beneficial than longer, less frequent breaks.
- Change your posture consciously frequently during a work period of several hours while sitting. Height-adjustable tables, such as Multilevel, are highly recommended, allowing you to alternate between standing and sitting.
Multilevel
- From time to time alternately stretch and bend your legs, and work by varying the position of your forearms.
- Do breathing exercises.Take a deep breath through your nose. Hold the air for three seconds. Then breathe out slowly through your mouth: take eight short breaths followed by a long one.
- To reduce the impact of light, close your lids halfway for a minute.
- To exercise your focal muscles, look alternately at near objects (about four inches away) and objects far away (more than 20 feet away) out the window, paying attention to the details.
- To exercise your eye muscles, follow the outline of the ceiling with your gaze, moving your head as little as possible.
How to sit correctly in an office chair to take care of our back
How to sit correctly in an office chair and achieve good postural hygiene? Ergonomics are key. A quality chair allows us to maintain a correct posture and adequate circulation.
Do you want to know how to sit correctly in an office chair? Do not use your chair in the position it is delivered to you. Learn to adjust the height of the seat, its inclination … and whatever many adjustments your chair and desk allow.
It is also very important that the office chair respects the normal curvature of the back and adapts to the person. In this other post , we already talked about the requirements that a good office chair must meet.
We already have the appropriate chair and have correctly adapted it to our physical complexion, now let’s see what is the correct posture in the office chair.
10 golden rules to adopt the correct posture in the office chair
– With the column upright and supported by the back of the chair, since in this way it presents its natural open S shape. On the contrary, the curved posture is pernicious because we load the spine and the ligaments in an irregular way. Likewise, the muscles work incorrectly.
– A posture as stable as possible; that is, the user is not slumped in his seat.
– On the other hand, most of the activities that we carry out daily while sitting in the office, such as writing by hand or with the computer keyboard, require that the arms be turned inwards. However, the arms should be turned out more often. In addition, it is very important that they are supported on the chair (on its armrest) or on the desk.
– We must keep the legs slightly open with both feet resting on the ground; In other words, it is harmful to cross your legs one above the other and maintain that posture.
– The knees should form a right angle with the muscles.
– The foot should form an angle of approximately 90º with the calf.
– The calf vertical, and forming a 90º angle with the thigh.
– The thigh horizontal, if you want to adopt the correct posture in the office chair.
– The thigh forms a 90º angle with the trunk.
– Wrists extended, not bent up or down. If using a wrist rest, do not use it while typing.
– Hands should move across the keyboard, not stay fixed.
– While typing, hands and fingers should be relaxed.
– The keyboard is positioned so that the arms are relaxed and the forearms are practically horizontal.
Be careful when getting up and sitting down in the chair
You also have to be careful when sitting down and getting out of the chair. Sit in a controlled manner, do not let yourself collapse onto the seat. To get up, support yourself with your arms, either on the armrests, or (if the chair does not have this element) support yourself on your thighs or knees and, in any case, keep your back straight or slightly arched back, not bent, while you sit up.
Remember, also, that seated we must avoid turning only part of the body. The right thing to do is to turn your whole body at the same time.
In addition to knowing how to sit correctly in a chair, it is important to take care of our back in all our daily activities, for example, when driving. When driving, your back is supported by the seatback and your knees are at or above the hips.
To get into the car, first sit with your feet out of the car and then turn and introduce them, one after the other, if possible, while supporting your weight on your hands.
When we carry weight, we must carry the weight close to the body and lift it only up to the height of the chest. When we have to carry weight off the ground, we will avoid doing so by twisting and bending; we will bend the legs and not the back. Never bend over with your legs straight, or twist, while holding a weight up.
And while you are bent over – for example, when brushing your teeth – always keep your knees bent and support yourself with your arms.
