Get relief from back, neck & shoulder pain in just 7 seconds!

What to look for in an ergonomic chair

• Adjustable seat height
• A good size seat
• A backrest
• Good padding on seat
• Arm rests
• Lumbar support
• Easy to rotate

Desks and people come in many different sizes so ergonomic seating and chairs have to cater for the majority of variations. The height should be easy to adjust and have a good range of at least 40 – 53 centimeters from the floor to seat height. The depth and width of the seat should be sufficient to allow you to sit with your back in contact with the back support whilst leaving a space of approximately 8 centimeters between the back of your knees and the seat. If this distance is greater you could cause the muscles at the back of your leg to tighten. If the back of your knees are making contact with the seat you may impede your circulation.

It is essential to have good padding on the seat because you will be spending long hours on it! Arm and backrests allow for support which can prevent you from holding tension on your neck, shoulders and back – both rests should be adjustable.

Lumbar support is not as important as it was once considered. A good seat that supports your pelvis in conjunction with a good sitting posture virtually negates the need for lumber support. Having said this, it still can be a useful feature in ergonomic seating and chairs for when you are tired or under stress.

A rotating chair is definitely a must as most office workers will need to turn to get things from desk drawers of use PC and office equipment. This will help reduce stress on the lower back.

Get relief from back, neck & shoulder pain in just 7 seconds!

Roy Palmer is a teacher of movement re-education and author of 7 Seconds to Pain Relief, secrets of lasting relief from back, neck & shoulder pain. He has helped back pain
sufferers, sports people and performing artists over the last 12 years. He is also the author of three books on the subject of performance enhancement, injury prevention and rehabilitation for athletes.

If you have adjusted the position of your chair, computer screen and mouse but still find you suffer from the conditions mentioned above? You’re not alone and for good reason. Whilst you can easily re-arrange your furniture it is not so simple to follow the instructions aimed at the human elements, that is, your body.

Get relief from back, neck & shoulder pain in just 7 seconds!

Following advice on sitting correctly, such as, sitting straight with the shoulders back etc, is not as easy as it sounds. This is because the majority of adults have developed a poor body concept. What does this mean? We have lost the art of natural poise and movement through our sedentary lifestyles. Your computer posture is just one situation where it can go wrong.

I have taught many people about movement and posture over the last 12 years and one issue that usually comes up is the matter of sitting at a computer. Many make the mistake of trying to sit up too straight and tighten their lower backs, causing more harm than good. As soon as people learn not to try and sit up straight, they find it so much easier!

Early warning signs that should not be ignored

Any discomfort experienced at your computer is a sign you are doing something wrong. You may not be too concerned if the aches and pains you associate with your work disappear at weekends. But prolonged periods (and we could be talking years) of sitting in a poor position will alter your posture gradually until you begin to suffer all the time.

More serious signs that require you to take instant action are tightness or numbness in your fingers, hands, wrists, elbows or shoulders. This could soon lead to upper limb disorders, also known as repetitive strain injury (RSI). This is a difficult condition to treat successfully and in a many cases the sufferer has to change job completely to one not involving computers – not an easy career move to make in today’s hi-tech world!

If you experience any of the above symptoms, talk to your Occupational Health Advisor or visit your doctor.

The longer these conditions persist the harder it will be to treat.

So your computer posture can have a huge influence on not only how productive you are at work, whether you get aches or pains, but also your body shape! You probably don’t want to look old before your time, but if you pay little attention to how you sit at your PC you could be rapidly attaining the stoop normally associated with old age.

Remember, you don’t have to sit up straight with your chin in, shoulders back …it will only cause more problems in the long-term. Just allow your body to be poised and let the chair and floor support your weight and remember to take breaks away from you computer.

Get relief from back, neck & shoulder pain in just 7 seconds!

Roy Palmer is a teacher of movement re-education and author of 7 Seconds to Pain Relief, secrets of lasting relief from back, neck & shoulder pain. He has helped back pain
sufferers, sports people and performing artists over the last 12 years. He is also the author of three books on the subject of performance enhancement, injury prevention and rehabilitation for athletes.

If you have had a medical examination for your lower back pain and no specific cause has been diagnosed what can you do? You may have been told that it is either ‘all in your mind’ or, worse still, be suspected of faking it to get time off work. The problem is that if medical tests cannot find a probable cause it is assumed there is nothing wrong with you. Now this isn’t much use to you is it!

Get relief from back, neck & shoulder pain in just 7 seconds!

The problem as I see it is that medical science does not yet recognize what could be a major factor in back pain. This factor, in my opinion, is that most adults, due to stress and the pressures of modern living, have lost ‘the art of natural movement’.

How often are we stuck behind a desk, the wheel of a car or clued to the couch in front of the TV? What is this doing to our backs? We all know that we should be more active but when we exercise can we move as freely and efficiently as we did as young children?

Has your doctor advised exercise? Yes it is true that activity is better than bed rest for your back, but how do you know if you are moving correctly? If posture and the way we move are a cause of lower back pain, are we not making it worse by using our bodies more vigorously?

I would suggest that before you start on an exercise program to help your lower back you should assess how you stand, sit, walk and run. If you can learn to reduce the unnecessary stress many of us place on our lower backs this can go a long way to resolving the problem for many sufferers.

One of the best ways to improve your lower back is muscle re-education to reduce the stresses and strains you unknowingly place upon your body. Learning how to use your body as nature intended can help eliminate or drastically reduce lower back pain. As a teacher of movement and posture re-education I see many people who, once shown a few simple ‘tricks’, are amazed at just how much unnecessary effort they have been using for even the easiest, everyday tasks. Once this has been removed they feel lighter, their movement is freer and the pain just melts away.

Get relief from back, neck & shoulder pain in just 7 seconds!

Roy Palmer is a teacher of movement re-education and author of 7 Seconds to Pain Relief, secrets of lasting relief from back, neck & shoulder pain. He has helped back pain sufferers, sports people and performing artists over the last 12 years. He is also the author of three books on the subject of performance enhancement, injury prevention and rehabilitation for athletes.

There are two types of spinal decompression treatments. First, a doctor can place you on a special bed that will turn you upside down.  This particular method for treating back pain has been known for over 2000 years.  In fact, a posture similar to headstands is a routine part of certain types of yoga.

Interestingly enough, when the weight of your body is inverted in relation to gravity, there will be just enough changes in posture to allow your spine to realign itself.  For example, right now your the muscle and bone in your spine support your head. On the other hand, when you are turned upside down, the weight of your head will gently stretch your spine in a downward direction.  In a similar way, the muscles in your back and shoulders will also act as subtle weights that will help push or pull injured discs back into position.

Today, many doctors and patients are interested in a new type of therapy.  Instead of being positioned upside down, a computer uses a series of traction devices to manipulate your spine.  As each weight is applied in a specific way, it reduces the amount of pressure inside each disc.  Once there is a negative balance,  injured discs will move back into their proper location.  Since the spine is also stretched out by this procedure, it also allows increased oxygen and blood into the spinal tissue.  All of these factors combine to help relieve pain, as well as prevent it from coming back.

If you are suffering from chronic back pain, sciatica, or neck pain, you should not have to go for expensive and painful treatments.  That said, if you do not feel like standing on  your head, there are other options that will work just as well.   In many cases, just a few spinal decompression treatments can get rid of pain when surgeries and other methods fail.