Perfect Desk Posture

Office Move

Feb 26

Why it doesn’t exist, and what you can do about it.

The danger with perfect posture is thinking there is one.

Since COVID introduced more WFH, I’ve received a lot of questions about what the ‘best posture’ is with different home set-ups.

When people think of ‘good posture’, they generally think of one IDEAL position.

The danger with perfect posture is thinking there is one.

Perfect posture doesn’t exist because the human body is a complex, living system that requires movement and balance.

Ask anyone to stay in ‘perfect posture’ for 2 hours and they’ll experience way more discomfort than shifting between 4 comfortable positions for the same amount of time.

CONSTANT CHANGE

Whilst vertical mice and ergonomic chairs may help, the best thing you can do for your posture is to introduce VARIETY.

To be human is to live in constant change. Down to the cellular level, we are constantly breaking down and re-building.

My chronic pain clients have all in their own ways, only moved in a handful of ways for too long.

Rather than staying at an ‘ideal spot’, it’s much more suited to our anatomy to maintain a system of overall balance, before something drastic has to be done to help move things along.

My chronic pain clients have all in their own ways, only moved in a handful of ways for too long.

FLUIDITY, RIGIDITY & CHRONIC PAIN

Overthinking our knee angles, the height of our monitors or the amount of time we spend standing up is RIGID.

“I have to be here or I’m not anywhere”. This type of thinking is useful at times but is unsustainable on its’ own.

The body can’t keep up this futile task in the face of constant change.

Rigidity plays out in chronic pain clients as self-criticism and judgement.

fluidity doesn’t exist too much in a chronic pain sufferer.

FLUIDITY looks like: “I have spent quite a while in this position, what small thing can I change to balance out my experience?” This opens us up to a different flavour of discipline that affords nuance to match the complexity of our bodies.

The balance and movement between these 2 states will manifest itself as a physical quality in our bodily tissues. As you can imagine, fluidity doesn’t exist too much in a chronic pain sufferer.

POSTURAL ADVICE

Don’t overthink it - just start adding more variety into your working postures.

Simply pick 3 or 4 comfortable positions and rotate between them throughout the day.

As you get better at this, you can start to think about more than just your spine - give some love to your neck, shoulders, forearms, hips and fingers too.

Mix it up and start normalising this in your office!

Not only will you have less of a mental load of “am I sitting properly?”, you’ll be giving your body the VARIETY it craves so much more than ‘perfect posture’.

If you can’t find 3 or 4 comfortable postures, follow my instagram page for some free tips, or get in touch with me directly for more immediate and personalised advice.

Love,

Always💗