Where are your legs right now as you are reading this? Tucked under you? Crossed? Wrapped around your chair legs? There is no one “correct” position for your legs, but there are some positions which are less likely to create painful issues for you.
Last time we discussed your sit bones. Now let’s look at your head’s role in computer posture—or your posture at any time!
With your upper body balanced over the sit bones, let’s look at your head. Take a moment to be aware of your head. Where is it? Is it balanced over the top of your spine, or is it leaning forward to see the screen? The second option is all too common. The head is at the opposite end of the spine from the sit bones. It counterbalances the sit bones. If either end is out of balance, then the whole upper body is compromised.
No matter how great our furniture is, if we are contorting our bodies in unnatural ways while we are using the furniture, we will still experience pain.
Any time we balance on the correct part of our skeleton, the muscles are not overworked to hold us up. We have several balancing points in our torso. If we allow those to line up, then we will be held upright by the skeleton and the muscles that were designed to do the job. A typical slumping posture may seem to be more relaxed, but it actually leads to more tension.
Getting your workstation to work with you, and not against you is the first step in healthy computer use. Here are some ideas to help you make your space work for you: