How many hours does the typical adult spend sitting at their desks? According to the British Psychological Society, adults spend on average 5 hours and 41 minutes sitting at their desk per day. The CDC estimates that Americans spend between 6.5 and 8 hours per day sitting down, on average.
Its clear that working adults spend the majority of their time at their desk then why not make sure you doing it with a healthy working posture and following healthy working habits. Your posture is driven by your eyes being able to see your screen, your hands being able to reach your keyboard and mouse and your body being supported by your chair and desk. If your screen is too far you will lean forward, if your chair is too small you will slouch and if your keyboard is too high, you will shrug your shoulders.
As a certified professional ergonomist, I focus on firstly making sure your workstation is adjusted to fit your body size. Remember one size does NOT fit all and the goal is to fit the task to the worker not the other way around. We are so good at adapting our bodies to complete the task and this is okay for short periods but if we continue to hunch forward for 4-6 hours a day, 5 days a week for the next decade then yes you will experience pain. And yes you will likely feel like you need to repeatedly visit your PT to help relieve the muscle tension. To stop the pain, you need to remove the risk factors from your workstation. After adjusting your workstation, the next step is to focus on healthy working habits. This includes taking breaks, increasing physical activity and movement in your day. After all, humans are designed to move and our bodies don’t like too much of anything. Balance is key… so don’t go and stand and work for 2 hours and think this is healthy. Instead stand for shorter more frequent intervals. The change in posture from sitting to standing is the where the benefit comes in and ultimately we should be both sitting and standing in every hours of work.
Providing ergonomics support for your employees, helps reduce musculoskeletal injuries, increase productivity, reduce absenteeism and improve employee well being. It’s time to make a change… Spend 1 hour with a certified professional ergonomist to improve your posture and learn more healthy habits you can start today.
Source: British Psychological Society (BPS). “Office workers spend too much time at their desks, experts say.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 January 2012. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120113210203.html