Workspace Onceover

By Ross Ashcraft

Have you checked your workspace lately?  If you type or work at your desk with incorrect posture and positioning you are setting yourself up for pain and discomfort.  Take a look at the figure to the right and use the image to change your station to allow for a better working environment.  Consider this:  If we spend 8 – 10 hours a day in positions that contort and distort our bodies is it any wonder that it screams at us.

Back and neck pain are the second most common reasons people visit the doctor.  Many of the issues related to pain can be alleviated with a few simple changes to your posture and work environment.

Take a moment and evluate your posture even as you are reading this post.

1.  Are you slumped to the side?

2.  Are you leaning on one hip?

3.  Is your head at an angle?

Can you image sitting this way for even 5 minutes.  When we are working or studying we get so focused on the task we stay in these awkward positions for hours at a time.

Try these steps:

1.  Eyeball your work area.

2.  Does the monitor line up with your eyes?

3.  Do your arms rest at a 90 degree angle?

4.  Are your wrists straignt?

5.  Are you feet flat on the floor?

Are you trading momentary comfort for longer term discomformt, pain, and trauma

Please, write up the position you found yourself in as you read the post.  Adjust your position and tell us any change you feel occured.