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I always tell my patients they should spend the money to make their work from home stations fit their bodies and not make their bodies fit their workspace. What I mean by that is that we need to ensure our bodies are in the best possible position while we work. If you need to spend $500 or $1000, just go ahead and spend it; you’ll spend a lot more on fixing your body, trust me.

What people do not know is that the way we sit, stand, move or hold ourselves on a regular basis is an exercise.

If you sit still for an hour, you are still exercising, and you’re doing what is called an isotonic isometric exercise. That means you are holding the muscle at the same length for a long period of time. This is the way we establish posture, and posture can be the reason you are hurting.

If you look down for an hour or two every day, it can cause head forward posture. Head forward posture is where the center of your head is no longer at the center of your shoulder. Every inch your head moves forward is a multiplier of your head. So, if your head weighs 10 lbs. and your head is forward 2 inches, the force on the neck is 20 lbs.

This will cause your body to try to compensate.

Your muscles will tighten in your neck and shoulders, and your shoulders will roll forward. This is your body’s response or attempt to compensate for the significant and abnormal forces that are being put into it.

This single change will cause the neck to be sore and tight.

As the muscles get tighter, they will start to block the lymph and drainage path from your sinuses. This can and often does increase sinus issues like sinus infections, ear infections, tension and sinus headaches. This can cause eye strain and often change the focal function of your eyes, and that can lead to vision changes.

As your shoulders roll forward, the pectoral muscles in your chest will tighten, and this leads to shoulder pain and damage. As your shoulders roll forward, you will start to curl into a ball or lean forward. When this happens, you decrease your body’s ability to properly move your ribs, and this is also called breathing.

As your breathing gets shallower, your energy will decrease, and your ROS levels will increase.

This can all happen from holding your body in the wrong position for too long.

This happens over time, so most people do not notice until they start to get a hump on their back, or they have lots of issues. So at least investigate changing the way you sit at your desk it might save you a lot more than money.

Check out the Chalmers Facebook Group for Wellness updates! And ask me any questions you have at [email protected]. I answer all of them and look forward to hearing from you.

Dr. Matt Chalmers