How to Sit Well at Your Computer  ( And at School)

IMG 0228Too often at Physiologix we are seeing injuries in kids at school due to bad posture.  This results in pain for the child, the taking of pain relief medication (not good for the stomach, liver or kidneys long term) and some costly physio bills.  As parents, making sure your kid’s posture is good when doing their homework and encouraging them to take regular break to get up and move can make a huge difference.  At Physiologix we believe prevention is always better than a cure – please read on below but if you have any questions, feel free to call us on (07) 3511 1112 or email us from the contact us page of our website.

Sitting for long periods has been proven to cause problems such as back, shoulder and neck pain.  Moral of the story - get in the habit of sitting well and get up often!
• Use a reminder on your computer – set it to every half an hour. When your reminder goes off - roll your shoulders in small circles three times, move your neck side to side, twist your body around left and right, stretch your arms up in front of you, overhead and behind. While you are doing this, look off in the distance and let your vision blur to rest your eyes.
• If you sit at your computer for longer than an hour- every hour, get up and go for a short walk 
 
Set Up Your Desk Correctly

When sitting at the computer the first thing is to make sure the desk and seat height are set up correctly
• You should sit with your eyes level with the top of the computer screen so you look slightly down onto the text.
• Your elbows should be at 90̊ by your side
• Your wrist should be cocked back about 20̊ as you type on the keyboard
• If you are on a lap top, consider setting the laptop up on books so the height of the screen is correct.  Then have a separate keyboard to ensure your shoulders and arms are in a good position.
• If you are using a mouse keep it in close to the keyboard/middle
• Hips can be slightly higher than knees but definitely no lower.
• Knees and feet should be hip width apart
• Feet should be flat on the ground – only use a foot rest to correct to this position and when you use the rest, keep your feet flat on it.