Why reclining at work can cause neck pain - even on an ergonomic chair! Correct your posture...
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- Опубликовано: 25 авг 2024
- Several studies have shown that leaning backwards can relieve the pressure on the lower back tissues, incl. on the intervertebral discs. But scientific studies on posture have to be read carefully, because what happens in a lab cannot always be taken to the office, or when you are working from home.
In this video, I will show you
- the difference between slouching and leaning back (or reclining)
- why you need a high backrest and a headrest on your ergonomic office chair if you have a reclined posture
- why leaning back is not compatible with working on your computer, and why it can cause neck pain, upper back pain, mid back pain and lower back pain.
There are many tempting shortcuts to correct your posture and relieve pain... posture correction is fine arts: you always need expert advice on ergonomics and biomechanics if you want to achieve durable results and relieve the pain!
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Pain in the back, shoulder, arms or any other musculoskeletal pain should not govern your life.
A lot of the pain you feel is caused or aggravated by wrong posture, poor ergonomics and a lack of specific exercises for your muscles and joints. Giving you the tools to resolve these issues is the reason why I created this self care channel.
If you need more, check out these two innovative offers that will truly empower you in the subtle art of posture correction:
- you can get THE POSTURE MANUAL, my best-selling book with 15 readers-only posture correction videos - only if you buy it from my website: oliviergirard....
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All information, content, and material of this website is for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.
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oliviergirard....
This video was super helpful, Thank you so much for making this!
One of the best explanations. I decided to increase the height of my monitor and increase my arm rest so that I can still lean back. Hopefully, that will help with my neck pain (I have a head rest). Thank you!
Let us know! Also, make sure that you take regular breaks, especially if you do photo / video edition: ideally, try and get up twice an hour and do this exercise: ruclips.net/video/yxIkf36TRD4/видео.html
Thank you for the explanation. Relieving pressure on the lumbar region for several years, I bent my upper spine. I will consider partial standing at work.
That's a great idea! Make sure though that you don't stand for too long in a row (it has other problems associated to it - that will come in a next video too :) ). A useful trick to stand more often is to identify everything that you do on your chair much more out of a habit than out of a necessity: phone calls, video conferences, speaking with a colleague, team meetings, etc. If you take all these opportunities to stand, you won't even need a sit-stand desk😅!
Hi, I work leaning back, as If I was on a beach lounge chair. My trick is "to take the mouse and keyboard with me", and forget that I need to use them on the desk. You can place them right above your legs and even keep them with the same diagonal position as your arms and armrests using a stand to do this, so you use the keyboard and mouse on a stand that you can add to the chair and is nothing more than an extension for the chair to serve the purpose of keeping the mouse and keyboard within a natural reach for your hands. Like a baby chair. I keep my monitor on the desk but elevate it a little more so I keep the line of sight and it's really confy and you can easily fall asleep haha! Let me know if you can see an ergonomic/healthy problem in the way I work. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. 👍
Hey Sergio! Per se, what you do is kind of OK: it's the principle of 0 gravity workstations. There's one limit though, which is that the mobility of your forearms is limited, hence the wrists may tend to work a bit too much. For the rest, just make sure that your elbows stay within an angle smaller than 20 degreees from your torso :)
@@OlivierGirard Hey, thank you very much!
Hello Olivier. I'm working with 5 monitors in front of me and I have pain neck . Can you share the model of the chair your using in this video? Thanks.
@@Luke-js1po Hi! It's the Kinnarps Plus 8: www.kinnarps.com/products/seating/task-chairs/plus/
Bought a atlas headrest for my aeron but I'm worried that pushes my neck too much forward
I have not been able to test it, but on the pictures I see a screw at its base (probably 20-25cm below the headrest, against the backside of the backrest): would it allow you to bring the headrest slightly backwards?
What you explain at 1:40 regarding keeping the head above your shoulders while leaning back in a chair without a headrest... I was under the impression that the strain on the anterior neck muscles was minimal if not completely negligible, especially if the recline isn't very deep. As an ergonomics specialist I always advise people to do computer work in a slight recline, and now I'm afraid I have been misleading them. Is the strain on the anterior neck muscles stemming from sitting in a slight recline really worse for the average person than the additional strain on the spinal column and tailbone stemming from sitting up straight?
Dear colleague :) This discussion could be the topic of a full video... here is my opinion:
- it's a great thing that you're ready to question your practices - many people never do so, irrespective of their profession. So congrats on this;
- if I aggregate the results of the musculoskeletal surveys that I have deployed in some of my clients (1300 people so far), I have 51% reporting back pain last year, against 63% for neck pain. Hence, I believe that neck pain is even more the disease of our times than back pain, and it therefore deserves even greater attention;
- from a clinical perspective: if you read The Trigger Point Manual, you will see that forward head posture is a perpetuation factor for an incredible number of muscles in the upper limb, but not only. Hence, we should really pay massive attention to that, which I consider to be public enemy #1;
- if you look e.g. at this chart (ergonomictrends.com/back-spine-pressure-chart/), you see that the pressure in the reclined position is measured with the head aligned with the rest of the spine. The pressure in the lower back will be different if you correct your head posture to look at your screen, hence I don't think that this result should be taken as a basis for advising office workers to tilt their backrest. To test the impact of neck posture on the lower back, there's an easy test: stand, and look at the ceiling - you'll see your lower back hollow. Conversely, slouching in the lower back pushes the neck forward. Hence, the "spinal equation" is C + L T
- as soon as you increase the pressure behind the shoulder blades, you will slide in the seat. This will be yet another factor that changes the pressure in the lower back compared to the very short duration studies that we all learn at school;
- the "pressure drama" in the lower back is mainly after 30 min of continuous sitting. Hence, our back-saving battle should be to make people get up twice an hour...
Does this make sense to you?
What is causing back of neck strain while sitting and looking at computer?
I find that when I recline in this way, I am more focused on certain tasks. Is there a way to use the keyboard and mouse comfortably in this position?
What kind of chair is that?
Kinnarps Plus 8: ruclips.net/video/e2wwl6ZohLg/видео.html
I developed discomfort over T spine area after buying a recliner sofa and chair. I have noticed today I actually have an abrasion in that area. I am quite active but can sit a lot once I am relaxing. Can I improve my sitting position at all? I spent a lot of money 💴 n this sofa.
You know what you could do? Send me pictures of you sofa and of you on your sofa (ogirard[at]trainyourposture.com). If there's something interesting for the community, I'll publish your pics with my analysis. If the answer is rather simple, I'll send you a private message :)
I put my arms on the table directly, on two mouse pads, of course. Otherwise, how can I have an ergonomic arm posture? I did have to put my monitor on several books, though
Yep, what you describe is typical of a leaning back posture. Reg. armrests or arms on the table, have a look at this video: ruclips.net/video/uZqVPBeOhzA/видео.html
Doesn’t all chair manufacturers claim that headrests are not needed?
Never heard this… but I agree as far as just working is concerned. HeadREST is to rest 😁
Hello , what is the name of the chair in this video ?
Kinnarps Plus 8 😉
@@OlivierGirard thank you .