The two key issues to consider in relation to sitting are duration and posture. The goal of this post would be to determine a few practical steps that can eliminate or reduce the amount of strain on one’s neck and back when sitting.

Seated Posture tips:

• Proper chair height should allow for both feet to be flat on the ground with a 90 degree angle formed between the lower legs and the thigh/pelvis. If you have to have your chair up higher to accommodate desk height then you may want to use one or more old phone books under your feet to maintain the angle described.
• If working at a computer, the middle of the monitor should be at eye-level height when one is sitting with their back straight up from pelvis.
• To reduce neck pain/strain, periodically make sure you are not leaning forward or bending your neck down toward the keyboard/mouse or forward towards the screen. Hint…if you were to look at yourself from the side, your ear should be directly over your shoulder.
• To reduce low back pain/strain, make sure you are not in a slouched position for long periods. To help out with this, make sure that you have adequate lumbar support on your chair. This means that back of the chair should have a hump just above the seat that will support the normal lumbar curve of one’s spine.

Duration of Sitting:

• Take short and frequent breaks to walk around and get some movement into joints of the hips and spine to help reduce low back pain/strain.
• To reduce neck pain/strain, periodically get some movement to the joints of the neck by slowly moving the head into full flexion (towards chest), extension (up and back), right ear to right shoulder, left ear to left shoulder, rotate/turn head all the way to right, then left. Try and hold each position at the full stretch position for at least 5 to 10 seconds.