hey everybody it's doctor Jo, and today I'm going to show you my top 7 ways to
improve your posture while sitting at a desk. so let's get started.
so imagine that I'm sitting at a desk, it's
just not here so you can see what I'm doing. so the first thing is to make sure
you're in good posture. while you're sitting at your desk, the most important
thing is if you're just sitting regularly in a chair, you want to have
your knees and your hips at about a ninety degree position. it doesn't have
to be exact, but you want it to be pretty much there, and what that means is you
want your seat height to be right and you want the floor height to be right. so
if you're way up high and you're not really touching your toes then that's
not going to be good. and if you're way down low and your hips are up like this,
and that's not good either because that's going to cause a lot of pain, and
that's going to change your posture. you can see as soon as I brought my knees up
I have to kind of hunch down, so having that 90 90 really helps you to have that
good posture. so the second one is if you're at your desk and you're working
on your computer and you're typing along, you want your arms to be parallel to the
floor, those forearms or your elbows, so elbows and arms parallel to the floor.
and then you're typing like this. so if you're up high, if you're too low then
you're having to look up, and that really changes your position again that kind
of slides down, and then if you're too low up here, and you're really up high
then you're gonna have to kind of lean into it. so you really want the forearms
and the elbows to be about parallel to the floor like that. the next one is
going to be you want your feet to be flat on the floor. now I know some people
who are a little bit shorter have a really hard time with this because most
desk chairs are kind of the lowest spot is really not low enough to get your
feet to the floor, so if you can't get your feet flat on the floor put a box or
something, or get a stool so you can have this position because again that all
goes back to if your feet aren't touching the floor, then you're going to
be hanging down like this and what happens was with that is you end up
getting a lot of pressure under here and that can cause some numbness and
tingling going into your legs and it can also decrease the circulation to your legs
so that can be a really big problem. so making sure that you have good posture
is the best way to go. so those are the ways to get good posture if you're at a
traditional desk where you're sitting in a chair, getting that good posture, but if
you're looking for some alternative ways, the kneeling desk which is a little bit
different, but still getting you in good posture, is a great way to do it. so let
me show you that. oh hey just answering some of your comments. so the folks at
Victor Tech sent me their edge desk system and the reason that I want to
talk about this today it's a kneeling desk, as you can see, and a lot of people
ask me about these. I've never actually got to try one before, so I was really
excited to try this. what is so cool about a kneeling system for me
personally is I have a lot of hip issues. you guys know that I have a labral
tear, a repair, and so a lot of times when I'm sitting for a long period of
time if I'm in that 90 90 position, it gets a lot of pain in that groin area
where that torn labrum is. so as you can see here in the kneeling position, I'm
open up a little bit so it's a little less than 90 degrees and what that does
is not only gives me in that upright position, so I have really good posture
but it takes some pressure off of my hips which is really really comfortable.
and I was surprised at how comfortable I am when I'm sitting in this position. so
what's also really cool about the edge desk system is it's super adjustable. you
can change the height, you can change the seat height, you can have your feet a
little closer to the floor if you want your toes to touch. some people like that.
you can change the angle of the desk top this way and you can even turn it so
it's in a long vertical view. so like if you're an artist or something like that
a lot of times you like it in that position so you can draw and things like
that. so what I want to do real quickly is just go through it, but as you can see
the most important part is to get that upright position to have your elbow kind
of at that 90 degree almost parallel to the floor kind of position, and have your
head in that good neutral position so you're not sitting here like this, but
you're up like this. what this seat does for me, as you can
see, it's that little bit of an angle it's really hard to slouch in this
position it feels uncomfortable. I know a lot of times when people are sitting at
a desk it feels more comfortable to slouch, this really kind of pushes me up
into that upright position and it takes all that pressure off of my back which
is great because if you're getting in that good neutral position, it's making
sure that your muscles are not working so hard or working in a bad position. so
it's really great it helps keep you focused because you're not in pain. so
what I want to do real quick is just show you a couple of the key components
here. so when you're moving the stuff around you can do it this way, so if you
want to add a little bit more angle if you're drawing or something like that
you can, and it's really easy you just kind of pull it up and adjust it there.
there's a handle underneath here where you can make it long wise if you want to,
and so again then you can just kind of do it in angles. If your artist or
something, you can have it in that long position. also it's really nice is you
can change the height of it and this is important because depending on how tall
you are, you might need it higher or lower, but what's even cooler is you can
take up really high if you wanted to and go around and even use it as a standing
desk for a while. so I really like that component as well. based upon your height
there's different levels right here, so you can come up higher and that gives
you just a little bit more of an angle, or if you want to go down super low, and
this is the one where if you wanted it a little bit lower then your feet could
touch a little bit. I personally don't like mine touching. I have I like having
it just kind of so my feet can hang and be in a neutral position, but some people
might want to have that just a little bit, so it's nice where it gives you
those options of being able to move it around. and then the really cool part
especially if you are in a work environment maybe even at home where you
don't have a lot of space, when you're done with this you can just make it all
go down and then it's really small and compact and you could even slide it
under your bed or something if you wanted to. and so
that's a really cool component as well. so a lot of times I don't really want it
out and then so I can make it so it just comes all the way down, so it's a really
nice. I mean it's pretty easy to do where you come all the way down and then you
loosen up that piece and then you just drop it down there, and then just store
it under something. so if you're interested in purchasing the edge desk
system, make sure and click on the link up here. so now that you know how to have
all that good posture at your desk and a cool desk to use if you want, now I'm
going to show you some exercises and stretches to help you keep that good
posture. so my favorite is a chin tuck. chin tucks are really good for anything.
they're good for headaches, they're good for stress, they're good for with that
for the head motion starts going, especially if you're working at a desk.
this is what happens a lot, or if you're a gamer and you're gaming a lot of times
people tend to get closer to that screen and that ends up really stressing out
those neck muscles. so chin tucks are super easy to do you can do them
anywhere they look kind of silly, but they're really effective. so when you're
doing a chin tuck, you're not tucking down like this, but you're tucking that
chin back in. And so a lot of times, I like using my finger as a target, but you
don't have to. it just sometimes it allows you to see how much that you
were over stretched with those muscles, and you're resetting yourself. so what I
like to do is keep that chin in a neutral position, so you're not like
tucking in like this, and you're not tucking in like this, you're keeping it
right here, and you're just taking that chin and tucking it in, so then you have
lots of little chins right there. hold that for about three to five seconds, and
then relax. and a lot of times you can feel the difference that your head is
actually moving back into that neutral position. so sometimes that's why I like
putting the finger there so then you just hold the finger where it is, tuck
away, hold that for about again three to five seconds, and then when you relax. a
lot of times you can see some space in there and that just means
that everything's kind of resetting. so that's a really great one to kind of
reset that posture, improve your posture, and that again that will take away
sometimes if you've had those headaches that's a great way to get rid of those
headaches because the more you're pushing this way is stressing out all
those vessels and a lot of times that's what gives you that headache. so then the
next one is just going to be scapular or shoulder squeezes because again a lot of
times our shoulders will roll forward and will kind of hunched over like this.
so a scapular squeeze or those shoulder blade squeezes, is really just kind of
what it sounds like you're squeezing it back. so imagine that somebody's hand is
right on your spine in between those shoulder blades and all you're doing is
you're just trying to squeeze those shoulder blades back. the key to this is
don't hunch up your shoulders and squeeze back, really relax them down and
try and almost squeeze downwards while you're squeezing. so again just hold it
for about three to five seconds, you can see that's opening up my chest area
that's really kind of making it's nice, that's working those upper back muscles
that a lot of times don't work, and that's why you go forward. so sometimes
people have a little bit of a hard time getting that down, so if you want to use
your elbows to kind of help going back this way you can, but make sure you're
activating those muscles you're not just pushing them back with your elbow. see
I'm just pushing them back with my elbows now, and I'm not activating those
muscles, so make sure you're squeezing those muscles back and get making sure
you're getting that contraction to activate those muscles while you're
doing it. so again three to five second hold, all you have to do is about five
times just kind of reset everything. and then the last one is just going to be a
PEC stretch or a chest stretch because again when you have that forward roll of
the shoulders, those PEC muscles end up getting really tight and a lot of
vessels go through this area. so when those PEC muscles get tight, sometimes
you get numbness and tingling down your arms, they get cold they get tired and
fatigued, and so it's really good to have these muscles nice and stretched out. so
you're in this upright position, so the easiest one to do if you're at your desk
it's just take your hands clasp them back behind, and what you want to do
is you're going to push down and out with your hands and
then push your chest forward. so since this is a full stretch, you want to hold
this stretch for 30 seconds. so really get that good stretch in there. it's
going to kind of be that hurt so good stretch. if it just hurts don't do it, but
after that 30 seconds take a little 10-second break, shake it out, and do that
a total of three times. so those are my top seven ways to improve computer
posture while sitting at a desk. if you're interested in purchasing the edge
desk system, make sure and click on the link up here, and don't forget to
subscribe by clicking down here. and remember be safe (get yourself a good
posture) have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.