The Daily Spine
Tips for Living Well With Back Pain
If your desk is too high or too low, it may cause you to spend much of your day working in non-neutral postures. Awkward or non-neutral work positions are known risk factors for musculotskeletal disorders (MSDs).
How Computer Desk Height Affects Your Neck and Shoulder Muscles
Ideally, the arms should hang straight down from shoulders with minimal muscle tension. If your desk is too high, most likely you’ll involve your shoulder and arm muscles as you interact with the things on your desk. Check to see: are your shoulders raised? Are your trapezius muscles, located at the top of your shoulders, tight?
If your desk is too low, you may find you spend a lot of time holding your arms out in order to reach the keyboard. You may also need to slump to reach your work. This will likely create shoulder, neck and upper back muscle tension.
Related:
If you type for four to seven hours per day, you're combining more than one MSD risk factor for neck pain. Along with the awkward work posture, you’re also using your fingers, hands, wrists and forearms repetitively. Experts say that MSDs are likely to occur when a worker is exposed to at least two risk factors.
Tips For Getting The Right Computer Desk Height
Here are a couple of tips on reducing the risk for MSDs caused by inappropriate computer desk height:
- Check your desk height. It should be at approximately the same level as your elbows (your elbows should be 90 degrees). If it’s too low, raise by inserting boards, blocks or books under the legs. It it’s too high, lower by either cutting the legs, or raising the height of your chair. (Use a footrest if you need to.)
- Consider an adjustable height desk. This may especially come in handy if you are not the only person who uses your desk.
Tips for Reducing Neck Pain and Bad Neck Posture When Working At Your Computer
- Keep shoulders relaxed. Doing posture awareness exercises such as cervical retraction and bringing your shoulder blades back may help
- Learn how to sit with good posture
- Make sure you're the right distance from your computer
- Use your work breaks to stretch and exercise your back or neck
- Use a light tough when typing
