Taking Care
of Your Back at Work
An NHS
study revealed that half of us are affected by back pain and 8 million working
days are lost due to work-related back pain each year. But there are
many ways to avoid and ease back pain when working.
Local
chiropractor Rob Dobbs, says:
•
Be aware of your posture: when standing try to
distribute your weight evenly across the front, back and sides of your
feet. When seated, sit up straight; align the ears, shoulders and hips in a
vertical line as much as possible.
•
Avoid prolonged positions: even a good sitting
position can be tiring and put a strain on muscles. Try alternating
sitting at the front of the chair with sitting back against it. Try to also get
up and move about every 30minutes. Take 2 minutes to stretch, stand or go for a
short walk, this will not only stimulate your muscles, but also your mind!
•
Avoid unbalanced posture: such as sitting with your legs
crossed, leaning to one side, hunching the shoulders forward or tilting
the head up.
•
Position your monitor at your natural
resting-eye-height. This will avoid straining the neck as you look up or
hunch down to your screen.
•
Exercise regularly: A good combination of cardio and
strength training will strengthen muscles and protect against back injuries.
•
Get moving: The body was designed to move, and it is
so important to keep moving. Even if you are suffering from back or neck pain,
limiting movement will only exacerbate the symptoms. Try to do lots of gentle
movement within a relative pain free zone, in order to prevent everything from
locking up.
Top Tip: The most common cause of neck pain is when you
hold your head forward for long periods of time. This places undue stress
on the joints of the lower neck, as well as muscles of the neck and shoulders.
By trying to pull the neck and shoulders back into alignment, and doing some
nice gentle stretches for the neck and chest, you can easily correct this,
before it becomes too problematic.
For further
information on how Chiropractic can help, please visit www.OptimalChiropractic.co.uk
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