Many of us in the business world sit for a living, often times staring at a computer screen eight plus hours a day, Monday through Friday and some weekends. Over time, it is not uncommon to see physical complaints such as eye strain, back pain, neck pain, shoulder and arm symptoms, leg and foot symptoms, headaches and fatigue.

I will address some helpful techniques to avoid strain while sitting on the job. The first item is understanding your body and the basic mechanics of how your body works. If there are deviations from normal body balance, this can cause physical stress and strain. Strain can come in two froms: One is trauma like a fall or a whiplash injury that happens all at once. The second type of strain is one that develops slowly over a period of time. The further out of balance you are with your body and your workstation, the more apt you are to develop this type of strain.

This is most noticeable when people slump in their chairs. They do this because over time they develop muscle fatigue so they slump to take pressure off the spinal muscles, but they put more pressure on the joints and discs of the spine until they expeerience back pain from the slouched position and they go back to their previous posture letting the muscles do the work. Overtime, the person continues to sit in postures going back and forth from spine to muscles sharing the stress of sitting on the job.

There are ergonomic principles that can help these people reduce their muscle workload in the first place. There is no chair that is right for exerybody. Our chairs need to be fitted specifically for the person using it. Ask yourself, is the pan of the seat soft enough, wide enough, does it tip foreward enough. Is it tall enough, but not to tall that your feet cannot reach the floor comfortably. Does your chair offer a low back support and arm rests at the proper height. The more support the chair offers, the less your muscles have to work. Does your chair swivel so your back doesn't have to.

Next, look at your workstation, just like the pilot of an airplane, you have your tools and instruments in fromt of you. Ask yourself is your "instrument panel" arranged properly for your body and your task. If not, you might need to re-arrange your desk.

Position your computer so that the center of the screen is chin level. The screen most often is positioned in front of you, however, high frequency data entry tasks may work best with a book or paper support in front of you and the screen to the side. It just depends on your workload. Forearms are parallel to the floor with the wrists in about a 15 degree extension.

Another idea to avoid cummulative stress is to keep materials used frequently in a high priority zone which is easy to reach. Occasional use areas would be at a lower priority zone.

Other considerations would be lighting, glare, room temperature, drafts and noise, all of which can add stress to your working enviroment.

To handle these cummulative stresses while sitting on the job, concider exercising your way through the workday by taking micro-stretch breaks several times an hour. Counter-stretching is helpful as well as eye exercises to reduce eye strain by focusing on near and distant objects periodically through your work day.

Mini-breaks may be a lull in your work activities that would allow a little more time to stretch your back muscles. The cat/camel stretch is a good one.

Macro-breaks would be like a "coffee break" which would allow 10-15 minutes to perform back stretches. Remember that if you are sitting all day at your job, try not to sit during the coffee break. Get out and get moving by exercising.

The next type of break is a lunch break that would normally last 30-60 minutes. Some companies provide exercise areas for their employees.

Ultimately, you can make this type of work more pleasant and fulfilling with consistant positive action.

Haas Chiropractic has stretching exercises available at our office at no charge.

Dr. Richard Haas DC, FACO