How to Avoid Neck Pain at Work: Easy Tips to Prevent Sprains and Aches

Have you ever suffered from back or neck pains at work? Are they making you walk with bad posture? If so, you should work on it and fix it to avoid further complications. Sitting or walking with a straight back not only shows you are confident but also has many health benefits. The problem starts with the way we sit at our office desk. Let us find out ways by which we can fix a bad posture and hunchback, and prevent neck pain. How to Reduce Face Fat Naturally? Useful Tips to Get Rid of Chubby Cheeks.

Our body was designed to move, not to sit on a chair for several hours. Over time, we adopted terrible habits, which lead to back and neck pain. Here's are some of the negative effects of sitting with a rounded back.

Negative Effects of sitting with a rounded back

1. Leads to more stress

Whenever you sit on your work desk by lowering your neck, your body starts implementing adverse effects on your mood. This not only causes you to worry more but it also makes you frustrated. According to a study conducted by San Francisco University, people who sit at the same place for long hours in a bad position, their internal process slow down which resulted in a decrease of energy level. Apart from this, it can also cause stress on your internal organs and muscles. Sitting with an upright position also enables to breathe in the right way.

2. Causes Digestion Problem

Bad sitting posture also affects the digestive system. Making your body stay in an uneven position makes the work of our intestinal walls difficult to break down food. In addition to this, one can also develop a pot belly. This happens because your abdominal walls are forced to bend in the wrong way.

3.  Cause pain in your back, shoulder and neck

This is one of the most significant side effects of sitting in a slouched position.  Working with the wrong posture while working can lead to lower back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain and even wrist pain. One can also injure their lumbar spine by staying in a rounded back position for a longer duration. By keeping your body in a bent position continuously you can misalign your spine and cause more stress on your joints.WORST Exercises and Workout Mistakes That Will RUIN Your Fitness Goals.

4. Headaches

While working at the desk, we usually put stress on our spine. Excessive tension on your shoulder and neck leads its way to your head and can cause a headache.

Ways by which you can reduce neck and back pain at work

1. Practice good posture

When you are sitting at the office desk, ensure that when you are resting your feet precisely straight on the floor. You should keep your spine in a neutral position with ears directly above your shoulders. The back should be leaned straight against the chair.

Adjust your chair at a height which allows your thighs to angle down slightly. By this way, you will ideally distribute your lower body weight through your sit bones.

2. Adjust monitor height and keyboard placement

The placement of your monitor should be at a position which does not allow your neck to slump forward. If the monitor is placed at a lower position, it will force you to lower your neck thereby leading to increase tension on the spine. The keyboard should be kept in an area, which while typing, keeps your arm in 90-degree position. If you place the keyboard at a lower position, this will lead to more rounding of your shoulder.

3. Keep standing up after a while

It is necessary to keep your body moving. Restricting your body to stay in the same position for a longer duration can cause tension in the internal functioning of your body. Also, it is difficult to maintain a good posture continuously for a longer interval. Stand up after an hour or so and take a small walk till the restroom. This will keep you active and fresh during your working hours. Nowadays fitness band come with idle alert, which gives a reminder by vibrating your wrist and tells you to get up from your chair.

4. Limit use of cellphone at work

People who make more use of cellphone at work, bend their spine more to type messages. The usage of the phone at work should be avoided because not only it causes a distraction at work, but it also forces you to slump your shoulder and spine more by making you bend towards the touchscreen of your phone.

Exercises to improve your posture:

Although the way you sit at your chair at work plays a significant role in your posture development, it must also be noted that bad posture is also due to weak rhomboid and trapezius muscles. Working on your traps is necessary. If these muscles are weak, it will become difficult for you to keep your scapula in a contracted position, thereby leading to rounding of your back. One can dedicate 15-20 mins of their time for exercising these muscles to improve their posture.

It is also important to note that your body weight also plays a vital role in the way you stand or sit. Overweight people with excessive weight tend to have lower back pain and neck pain due to an uneven body structure.

(This article is written for an informative purpose and should not be substituted for medical advice. Kindly consult your doctor before trying any tips.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 14, 2019 08:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).