18/03/2020
Some useful tips for all those who have to work from home. It is very important to be aware of your posture as much as possible! Stay safe🥰
DON'T BU**ER UP YOUR BACK WORKING FROM HOME!
My daughter Scarlett sent me this photograph of her newly set up workstation at home, where she, like many others – literally millions of people around the globe – is getting to grips with working long hours in less than ideal ergonomic circumstances. As soon as I saw this photo, I was straight back to her to suggest improvements since using this as a work chair will bring almost any spine undone. . . . . I then thought all of the rest of you could do with these same few pointers (!)
My first suggestion was put a very substantial pillow (perhaps two?) in behind her lower back because the seat here is far too deep and there is no spinal support from the back of the chair. You will see in the following website pages that as far as possible, the spine has to keep its statuesque 'S' shaped alignment while sitting - and be be kept from crumpling forward into a 'C' shaped one.
In achieving this set-up, make sure that there is enough pillow-support from behind that even when you're relaxed against it, you still do not lose that forward thrust into your lower back at waist level. In some cases your chair could look like a positive rat's nest of miscellaneous pillows, but maybe that's probably exactly what you need!
Note: With all these pillows you initially may feel too much pressure in your lower back when you first plonk down into the chair. But do persevere, because quite quickly with your heavy body-weight of resting there, the pillows will recede and lose their ooomph.
The second thing she needs here is to be raised up in the seat of the chair because the distance up to the table is too high and will mean that she will have to shrug her shoulders to clear her wrists from the computer keyboard. This will cause huge neck/shoulder strain (remember, the ideal desk height means that the elbows are slightly lower than a right angle). Scarlett is young and newly married, living in quite a small flat, so I can't imagine her having a whole lot of spare pillows around the place but ideally, she should put at least one or two under the yellow base cushion of this chair. If she doesn't have pillows then she should use anything at hand, such as books or even a pile of newspapers or Economist magazines to raise the base of the seat.
There are various pages on sitting, but I suggest start here:
https://www.simplebackpain.com/back-pain-with-sitting.html
