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Photo Courtesy:
Patrick |
A while back a reader asked me why she gets so much neck pain after a day at her office. My first thought was about support for her lower body, believe it or not. The chair (bench, stool or even exercise ball) you sit on provides the foundation for not only your lumbar spine, but your mid-back, upper back, shoulders and neck, as well.
Think of your neck and back as units that stack on top of one another. When you sit, the bottom of your pelvis - your sitting bones, ideally - connect to the seat of your chair. The weight of your body transfers down to those sitting bones and into the chair.
The height, depth and seat tilt of your chair will likely affect the curve in your low back, which affects the positioning of your mid and upper back and so on. Each unit balances on top of the one beneath it. So you need a level, supportive foundation to keep the rest of your body in good alignment. That's where a well thought out investment in an ergonomic chair comes in.
Beyond that, if you have a similar concern as this reader, you might consider adjusting your workstation so that it fits you as an individual, as well as learning about best ways to incorporate exercise, work breaks and even company management into your ergonomic improvement plans.
