Could my back pain be because of my posture at work?
If you have been asking yourself this question, then you have already taken the first step to identifying the most common cause of neck and lower back pain – Poor posture!
Long periods of time sitting aren’t great for our body at the best of times, but combine that with slouched sitting postures or stooped shoulders and you have yourself a recipe for pain. Thankfully, these types of injuries can be resolved quickly with the right education, advice and some hands on Osteopathic treatment to address the tightened muscles and stiff joints.
Last month I took our receptionist Mel through an ergonomic assessment to help improve her sitting postures whilst at the desk.
In the pre assessment photo below, our receptionist Mel sits forward on her chair which removes the support of her backrest. She also has her monitor positioned very low, causing her to look down to view the screen. Unsurprisingly, she frequently suffers with neck pain and occasionally gets a headache.
After a review of her workstation and job tasks, we moved the monitor a little closer to enable us to raise the height of the monitor. This reduced awkward and sustained flexed neck postures. We also encouraged her to sit back in her chair to allow the chair to support her spine. This led to reduced activation of muscles in her lower back and a decrease in lower back discomfort.
Have a look at your workstation next time your at work and see if you are doing either of these things. It might be worthwhile considering an ergonomic assessment!
