Adapting to the Office Part 1

Our body works to keep us alive, it does this by adapting to our environment and the stressors within that environment. However, as smart as our body is, as good as it is at adapting, our body adapts to our environment and the stressors we place on it. Meaning when we put ourselves in a poor environment our body can and often times will adapt to that poor environment leading to pain, asymmetry and discomfort.

If we spend the majority of our life hunched over a computer, a phone, a desk, our body will recognize the stress we place on it from working in this environment and adapt the body to “fit” this environment.

What does adaptation to this environment look like?

Let’s start with an introduction into what this work environment looks like, what it leads to, and end with what you can do to help decrease your chance of experiencing some of the negative effects associated with a work environment like this.

Number 1: Computer height.

Many of us work where our computer monitor is set below eye level. When the monitor is below eye level it can lead to us bringing our head and neck forward and down.

5 minutes of sitting like this isn’t going to do much. Even 30 minutes of sitting like this might not cause any discomfort or pain. However, as you know our body is constantly adapting to our environment. Meaning if we continue to sit like this over months to years different processes will start in the body for us to adapt to this position.

Through a process called creep our muscles, ligaments, and tendons start to become permanently stretched into the position that we keep our body in. While this is the process that allows us to become more flexible through stretching, it’s also the process that for some of us leads to discomfort and pain when trying to sit up right. As many patients have shared with me they just feel “stuck.” They will try to sit up and get in more of an upright position but it’s more uncomfortable then sitting stooped over.

Creep isn’t the first process that our body goes through when sitting in a hunched over position. What happens first is the muscles of the back of the neck, that keep us upright, start to become over-active. The more we are leaned forward the more the muscles of the posterior neck are stretched and forced into over-activity (prolonged eccentric contraction). The stretch of these muscles over a long period of time leads to these muscles getting tired and when a muscle is tired it doesn’t work as well. (Muscle Fatigue 1, 2)

Now short term this isn’t a very big deal and is similar to walking up stairs after a long hike when your legs are tired. Your legs feel shaky, wobbly and unstable. This is happening at a lower degree to the muscles of your neck after sitting stooped over a computer for a long period of time. Again short term this doesn’t cause long term issues. The problem is that very few of us only work stooped over a computer for a short period of time everyday. We work long hours at the computer hunched over a desk for 7+ hours a day, 5 days a week. Now you might be thinking 7 hours is only 29% of your day and surely the other 17 hours a day are as, if not more important than the 7 hours at work. To that you’re absolutely correct. However, many of us come home after a long day at work and relax on the couch or in bed in a similar upper body position that we put ourselves in at work causing more strain on the muscles of the neck and upper back. That 29% of your day spent in a bad position then bleeds over to more than 50% of your time and then you’re looking at almost half or more than half of your day telling your body hunched over is its natural position.

What do we do about this?
1st you can raise your computer height. Raising your computer to where the center of the screen is at eye level when sitting will help bring your head up, neck back and help bring your shoulders back as well.

Morning Movements - Wake Up the Brain is a series of movements that help take the neck through it’s full range of motion. This helps to strengthen the muscles, better coordinate the muscles and also help you find out what areas feel normal and which one’s don’t. To see the movements and read more about Wake Up the Brain click here.

Move throughout the day - Research has shown that taking small breaks throughout the day to get up and move around can help decrease neck and lower back pain. Why? Blood flow and movement. Muscles are meant to move and movement helps increase the blood flow to the muscles helping them work better and clear out metabolites that can increase our sensitivity to pain.

Y-T-W-L’s- Another movement. Some of us have weaker upper back muscles and that causes us to hunch over even more. Y-T-W-L’s can help to strengthen the muscles of the upper back as well as provide some temporary relief throughout the day when you’re starting to feel upper back and neck pain. Click Here to see these movements.

Today we covered part 1 of this series and the movements that you can do to help decrease your upper back pain and neck pain. Next week I’ll break down why our work can lead to mid and low-back pain and different movements you can do to improve your pain and start moving better.

A computer below eye-level (1). Leads to the head shifting forward, (2) rounding of the shoulders and upper back/thoracic spine (3) and flattening of the lower back (4).