"Sit-up straight", "Neck tall", "shoulders back", "Keep your knees bent"...With all that we are suppose to focus on, no wonder we give up on having something resembling decent posture while working at the desk. With running a business, sharing the responsibilities of running a household with my wife and juggling all of the activities my 3 kids are in, I have a very limited capacity on what my brain can focus upon at any given time. Let alone focusing on how I'm suppose to sit while doing it! Too much focus is put on how we are suppose to be sitting and not enough attention is paid to the set-up yet this is the most important part!
The reason: Poor set-up results in poor posture and eventual pain and discomfort! A proper set-up forces you into a good posture which helps stave off pain and discomfort so a proper desk set-up is just like setting up auto-pay each month, you'll never forget!
The most important aspect of the chair? Arm rests which raise up and down; chairs are not made "one-size fits all" so we need to stop treating them as such. When seated with your elbows bent, raise the armrest so it just hits your elbow and then raise it another half of an inch so you can sufficiently rest your arms thereby removing all that stress and tension from your neck and shoulders.
Next, to ensure your arms are in a good position grab a tissue (a pen, a lego that you stepped on the previous night making you second guess your life choices, really anything would work) and pinch it between your elbow and side. While doing that, you should be able to reach the keyboard, if you cannot and while reaching for the keyboard the tissue or god forsaken lego fell to the ground, you were too far away from the keyboard and that will result in forward-rolled shoulders causing pain and discomfort in the chest, shoulders and neck.
The most important aspect of the desk? A keyboard tray which pulls out from below. Desks and chairs were meant for each other however they were not made for each other; sort of like how hots dogs come in packs of 10 whereas the buns are sold in packs of 8. Oftentimes, the chair butts into the desktop forcing you to sit too far away from the keyboard. A keyboard tray helps to circumvent this.
Where do my feet need to be? They need to be flat on something, whether it's the ground, ream of paper, just something. They should not be wrapped around, rest on, bent upon the legs or wheels of the chairs. The feet are the foundation and any foundation has to provide a firm footing.
Following these steps are the "salt" of proper desk posture. Some dishes require more than just salt, but those spices are added alongside the salt, not in place of.
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