We have all heard about the studies on sitting and how it can negatively impact our health. It has been proven that sitting for extended periods of time is not good for us.
Office personnel, especially executives, spend a lot of time sitting and looking at a computer. This sustained posture can cause neck and shoulder discomfort, headaches, low back pain, a sort of malaise, and shall I say it??? A feeling of “I’m getting old”!
Executives, many times, are too busy to even acknowledge the onset of chronic discomfort until lifestyles are affected.
25 years ago we discovered that the “laws of sitting” are not being taught. This lack of education was exposed when our society became dependent on computers, allowing access to the world while seated in an office or home.
The exposure of this lack of knowledge manifested via fatigue, discomfort, pain and for some, even injury. ATTEMPTED solutions have included ergonomic chairs, keyboards, sit-stand desks, treadmills with keyboards, etc. Ergonomic solutions are certainly important, but my gosh, they can become quite expensive. Moreover, how frustrating it is to the person with wrist, back or neck pain when the $800 chair doesn’t quite eliminate the problem.
Knowledge is power as the saying goes. There are simple laws of how to sit. Violation of these laws cause accelerated “micro trauma”. The accumulation of insidious micro trauma is called Cumulative Micro Trauma (CMT) which is the cause of the symptoms mentioned above.
If you assess your body right now, we know that in one or several areas you will feel your own CMT. The good news is once we know the true source of a problem, the problem can be solved.
The laws of sitting, once known, puts people in charge of how they feel. What we can do is learn how to sit properly, learn how to set up our chairs, monitors, keyboards, and yes, get rid of CMT by doing certain stretches designed specifically for executives and office support personnel.
I will share some of the laws that we teach in our Sittingsafe® workshops across North America over the next few newsletters.
Here is our first Sittingsafe tip:
Your body has 62,500 miles of blood vessels (amazing fact!). Blood provides oxygen, nutrition and takes away waste. A law of sitting is to prevent closed angles. Your ankles, knees, hips and elbows should be positioned at 90 degrees or slightly more to assist blood flow. Key factors to open angles are the height of your chair and position of your keyboard, mouse and monitor. Do not let your computer and office furniture dictate your body’s positions. Adjust your chair so that your knees are slightly below your hips, for most of the day make sure your feet aren’t tucked under your chair (closes ankle and knee angles!)
When typing, your hands should be on the keyboard at the same height or slightly below your elbow (keyboard trays are needed by most people) and the same is true for the mouse.
We will continue these tips in our next newsletter.
Please keep in mind that it is quite simple to alleviate most discomfort caused by sitting. You just need to know the laws of sitting contained in our Sittingsafe program!
FIT has trainers available across the US and Canada to conduct on-site Sittingsafe workshops for office and executive personnel. We don’t sell furniture or ergonomic equipment. We teach people what society forgot to teach us. Knowledge is power! Especially if it makes us feel good!
Contact us for more information on our Sittingsafe program (800.775.2225).
Recent Comments