I arrived at my practice yesterday to find the Yellow Pages on the door step and got excited. I have been waiting for this time of year for a month or so now because I know that this is a great time to improve my posture.
How does the Yellow Pages improve my posture?
Well, the computer in the back room of my practice - like most computers I see - has a screen that is too low. This means that my team members and I have to look down to see the monitor. Since we do this every day we are there, six days a week, over time this adds up to a lot of bending forward. So several hours a day, six days a week over the last few years, we have been stressing our spines.Whilst these sorts of stresses over a short period of time seem insignificant, when you add them up over a lifetime they can lead to quite drastic results. Increased curvature of the mid (thoracic) spine, decreased curvature of the neck, restricted movement and most importantly nervous system interference.
These postural distortions are significant for a number of reasons. The decreased movement can obviously stop you from being able to do things that you want to do. The forward head carriage increases the amount of work the muscles at the back of your neck and shoulders have to do, leading to neck and shoulder pain, as well as headaches. The nervous interference can lead to decreased function and performance of your cells, tissues and organs. In fact one study on elderly men showed that an increased curve in your mid spine can actually lead to a 44% higher chance of dying.
So what has this got to do with the Yellow Pages? Well, your old Yellow Pages (or two) just happen to be the perfect (and free) solution to the computer problem. Put one or more Yellow Pages under your computer monitor and raise the screen up to the point where when you sit up straight, the level of your eyes is level with the middle of the computer screen. This will ensure that you maintain good posture throughout the day and will help to minimise the stress on your spine.
Of course if you have some ingrained postural habits or you are in pain, it may also be a good idea to consult a health care professional.
Is your work station stressing you out?
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