Working from home, work-station posture
You can probably picture the perfect sitting posture, you’ve seen that ergonomic perfection, the most aligned seated posture, so if we know it, why don’t we just do it? You might try to replicate the posture every time you feel some back tension or some neck discomfort, you try for a few minutes and get distracted by work and the next time you notice your posture, you are slumped again. You all know the “perfect sitting posture” by now. But why is it that our body reverts to a lazy slumped posture as soon as we shift our focus towards the work on the screen in front of us?! Gaahhhh!
The problem with this scenario is that whilst we are sitting, we are in a very passive posture. Sitting naturally switches off the muscles around the pelvis, our pelvis then tilts, and our spine is pressured. Even though we engage while trying to sit up straight its not sustainable! O.K but how to make our sitting posture better and more sustainable?!
Our muscular system is a highly adaptive system. Our posture is a dynamic concept that changes everyday to the way we use our body. Our muscle tone, muscle length & tension and muscular endurance are the most crucial aspects of posture. If we want to improve posture it makes sense to work on these concepts. SO, what’s the best way to improve posture whilst working at a desk?
Try this… every 30-60mins do some slow/controlled squat holds. Tip 1 – take your shoes off. Tip 2 – the slower the better. Try do 3 holds for 3 seconds as low as you can to the chair, hover above the chair and actively try to stand up tall again whilst squeezing your butt muscles hard!
3x 3 second holds. Then rest. And try to do this 3x over with a short 30 sec break in between. The 3x3x3 rule. Set an hourly reminder on your phone and try to give it a go every hour or so.
I’ve made a video for further understanding.
If you continue to do this little squat drill over a couple of weeks, you won’t need to be constantly readjusting in discomfort because your pelvis and lumbar spine will be active and strong with some training! The muscles around your pelvis and lower back will tone and build endurance so sitting becomes a easier and safer.