5 Tips For Your Sitting Posture At Work: How To Correct It And Protect Your Well-Being

---

---

Whether you’re working in an office or at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, your sitting posture can make all the difference when it comes to your physical health. Many of us find, though, that it’s not always easy to maintain the correct sitting posture, mainly because we are unsure how to evade potential aches and pains.

Sitting incorrectly can not only lead to physical discomfort and strain on your body, but it also leads to poor circulation and joint pains. To solve this, these tips can make comfort an easy priority throughout your working day.

SEE ALSO: 10 Important Do’s And Don’ts For A Healthy Lifestyle

Keep your feet on the floor

This is a fairly simple opening tip that will help you avoid posture and joint pains. Crossed legs can cause achy joints, so it’s best to keep your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Your feet should also be flat, which can often be difficult to achieve if your seat is too high. To tackle this issue, you might consider using a footrest to place your feet on while you work.

Ensure your back is supported

Our second tip relates to your back support. Your lower back can suffer significantly if it is not supported well enough by your office chair, and hard, wooden chairs, if you’re working from home, can worsen your posture and lower back support. In fact, back injuries affect more than 600,000 American workers annually, with billions each year in workers’ compensation claims.

So, how can you solve this potential problem?

In this case, you might consider using cushions to support your lower back. If you have an adjustable chair this is ideal. To make sure your back is adequately supported, ensure that it’s at the correct height in relation to your desk and that the back of the chair follows the position of your back. Sit with your hips positioned right to the back of the chair and make sure the chair’s back is reclined to approximately 100 degrees.

---

---

Use your chair’s armrests

The best position for your arms when working on a computer at a desk is that they should be bent approximately 90 degrees at the elbow joint. To ensure they remain comfortable and to avoid any joint pains, the best option is to use an office chair that has armrests.

The armrests should be at the same level as your desk, which you can then place your arms on. This makes sure you can maintain your arms at a 90-degree angle while typing or working on your keyboard. While we’re at it, keeping your wrists in a straight position is also important. You’ll want to keep your keyboard directly in front of you, tilting it if needed – either at a positive or negative angle (which will depend on your sitting position).

Ensure screens are at eye level

There’s nothing worse for your sitting posture than having a screen too low – well, except if your screen is too high. Ensuring your computer screen and monitor are placed at the right eye level is important. If it’s not at the correct level, you’ll risk putting pressure on the back of your neck. This is painful in the long run and is a key posture problem you’ll want to avoid.

Try not to twist your body

One of the first things you do when you sit at your desk is to switch on your monitor. Then, you might need to speak to your colleagues in your office (if you’re working from your office), or your family (if you’re working from home). As you’re sitting at your desk, both of these actions might require you to move your body and your spine. In these cases, you’ll need to take extra care not to twist your spine too much from a seated position, which can cause physical strain on your body. Stay conscious of the fact that swiveling your spine can cause you to experience backaches, so try to avoid sudden movements when seated at your desk.

Sitting comfortably: the main takeaways

More and more of us are working from home, and this is why remembering to sit comfortably and correctly is important. The key things to remember are:

• Avoid twisting your spine suddenly when pivoting to speak with colleagues (in the office)
• Adjust your computer screen so that it’s level with your eyes, and
• Ensure that your back is adequately supported with cushions (if working from home)

While these tips may help, you might also need more professional advice. Your local physiotherapist will be able to assist.

---

---