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Hello friends,
I picked an important day to feature for you this week: Chiropractic Founders Day! This Saturday marks 126 years since the first chiropractic adjustment in the United States was performed. Raise your hands. Who knew? That very first adjustment was the beginning of the chiropractic profession. It’s quite an interesting story, read up on it here.
Long hours of sitting combined with terrible posture has always been a pain in my neck – no pun intended. This week, I’m here to provide you with some helpful tips to combat such paid. Before I begin, I’d like to give a quick shout out to Mike and his team at Windy City Wellness. While we have been tuning up his IT systems, he has been tuning up my muscle groups. Mike wants you to graduate from his care and be well on your own which, in my opinion, is the best approach to medicine. Thank you for all the things you have taught me, Mike!
Instead of talking about stretches (which I have no sufficient credentials to do), I will try and help with your home office setup to help with that posture. Let’s begin!
Lean back. Leaning into your monitor is a very bad habit which I fight daily. Sitting up straight and resisting the urge to lean into your screen is an important habit. Bring a large mirror so you can catch yourself.
Shoulders down. We shrug our shoulders without realizing. I find just letting them loose does not help because I really don’t let them loose even when I think I do. Making a conscious effort to push my shoulders back and down is necessary for me as I train them to be in their right place.
Neck up. Laptops, cellphones, cracks on sidewalks – we never get a chance to look up. If that neck could talk, it would sue us for years of abuse. When you sit upright and your head is level, the center of your screen should line up with your eyes. I strongly recommend using a monitor stand or an adjustable monitor mount. Using a laptop? Most laptops can connect to an external monitor easily. Avoid staring down at your laptop screen for hours!
Maintain a 90-degree angle. Your forearms should be at a 90 degree angle with your upper arms. If you find them too low or too high you need to adjust your chair and keyboard location. I find height adjustable computer desks are needed to get things perfect. Here is a good option for a home office.
Stretch every 30 minutes. Rule of thumb is to stretch 30 seconds for every 30 minutes you sit. The internet is full of different stretches, here is my favorite one.
Take good care of you, especially your spine. As Socrates once said “if you would seek health, look first to the spine”.
Have an aligned week till we meet again,
– Burak Sarac, Team Lead
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