Active Family Chiropractic

Empowering Your Health

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Standing Desks vs. Sitting Desks. How to make your work space erognomically friendly.

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A large majority of the populace have sedentary jobs, meaning that they spend the majority of their day sitting. We sit doing paperwork or working on a computer. Sitting in one position for an extended amount of time can cause damage to your spine and health.

Making your workspace ergonomically friendly can be a challenge. Here are some ways to create a positive work environment for you and your health.

The Standing Desk

These desks are designed to be raised and lowered so that you can achieve the perfect height. Standing at a desk will not only prevent you from slouching but it will boost your productivity. When you stand, your blood has an opportunity to flow unhindered. That undisturbed flow can provide additional oxygen to your muscles and brain, allowing you to think clearer.

Standing desks also promote good spinal alignment. When positioned correctly, you are able to work on a laptop or monitor by looking directly ahead. This encourages our necks to sit in a neutral position. When we are standing, looking directly ahead with a neutral spine, it allows our neural pathways to be free to work correctly.

Sitting at a Desk

So you aren’t able to get a standing desk. That’s fine. We have to make your current workstation as ergonomically friendly as we can.

Fix your monitor

When you are looking at your monitor, are you looking down? If so adjust your monitor so that it is at a height where you are looking at it straight on or elevated.Working on a laptop? Set it on a couple of books or a raised shelf and use a separate mouse and keyboard.

Get a chair that promotes good spinal alignment.

There are a couple of options here. You can invest in an ergonomic chair, sit properly or get a large ball.

The ergonomic chair. When sitting in an ergonomic chair you want to make sure that you are sitting all the way back in the seat so that your back is flush with the chair back. This will allow you to sit in correct alignment.

Can’t afford an ergonomic chair and your boss won’t buy you a new one? Buy a big ball. Sitting on a ball will not only help you strengthen your core but it promotes good spinal alignment because the minute you begin to slouch, the ball reacts and you will find yourself slipping off or you can sit on the edge of the chair you have and pull your shoulder blades back. Doing this forces you to think about your posture and work on your core at the same time!

Make sure that you get up every 20 minutes.

If you have a job where you are sitting, make sure that you’re getting up every 20 minutes. It will help promote blood circulation and give you an extra boost of energy when you feel like you’re going to fall asleep.

No matter what your work situation is, it’s important to take care of yourself and create an environment that promotes health and wellness. Taking control of your workstation and making it more ergonomic will help increase your productivity and improve your quality of life.

Want more tips on how to create a more healthy workspace? Ask Dr. B at [email protected]

Snow Shoveling Erognomics

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When you live in the Northeast, you inevitably have to shovel snow. Armed with your trusty shovel, you are in for at least 10-40 minutes of exercise if you have plans to go anywhere.  Now, this can be back-breaking work if not done correctly and many people do not shovel correctly. Here are some tips to save your back!

1. Find the right snow shovel.

Yes, any shovel will do to remove snow but if you want to save yourself some back pain, pick a shovel with a curved handle or an adjustable length handle. You want to find something that will eliminate that hunched, bent-over position. Finding a shovel that will help you to remain as vertical as possible is the first step.

Look for a snow shovel that looks like this:

 Suncast 18″ Snow Shovel/Pusher Combo with Ergonomic Handle. $35 on Amazon

2. Warm Up before you work out!

You’ve heard this time and time again. You need to warm up your muscles (including your heart, which is a muscle) in order to not strain yourself. The same is true for any outdoor activity and snow shoveling falls into that category. Make sure that you warm up your lower back, legs and limbs before you pick up that shovel. Gentle arm and leg swings followed by marching in place for a few minutes is all it takes. A quick warm-up can be the difference between pulling out your back and getting a good work out. It can also prevent heart attack or stroke.

3. Use Proper Lifting techniques

I’m sure everyone has heard that saying, “Lift with your legs, not your back!” and the same is true here. You want to ensure that your core is tight and engaged before you lift anything. There’s a trick to this if you don’t know what your body is supposed to feel like when your core is engaged.

  1. Stand up straight.  While you’re standing, pull your shoulder blades back, trying to get them to touch behind you at the same time squeeze your butt. This is how your upper body should remain while you’re shoveling.
  2. When you bend over to pick up snow make sure that you bend your knees and hinge at your hips. Think of yourself with your arms full of groceries and you have to shut your car door. If you bend over you might spill all of the groceries onto the floor. In order to keep your groceries and shut the car, you would bump the car door with knees bent. Try to use the same principles when shoveling.

You’ll notice in the photo below that the person is making a straight line with her back while bending over. This is how you can protect your back while lifting. In the second illustration, you can see how to properly shovel.

4. Don’t overdo it

Shoveling is a chore. It’s something that has to be done and not something we particularly look forward to doing. Make sure that when you’re shoveling that you are pacing yourself. Depending on how much you have to shovel, take periodic breaks. Also, remember to drink plenty of water. You may not think that you need it but you do. Also be sure to stretch your entire body after shoveling to prevent muscle soreness.

For more information about stretching or shoveling ergonomics, talk to Dr. B at Active Family Chiropractic.  https://af-chiropractic.com/

Repost from December 13, 2017.

Ergonomics of Raking

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Now that we’re in the full swing of fall it’s time we talked about how to rake those leaves properly. Granted leaves don’t weigh much but if you employ poor raking techniques you could easily throw your back out.

This is a time when a lot of people are trying to get their yards prepped for the winter and what winds up happening is they strain their bodies and they hurt themselves. In order to prevent this, one of the first things you should do is hydrate well.

Hydrate!

If you’re going to be out in the yard working you want to make sure that you are properly hydrated not only during the work but before you leave the house to do the lawn care. The next thing you want to make sure you do is to get your body warm.

Get the blood moving!

You want to make sure that you warm up. Take a walk up and down your driveway to make sure that you get the blood flowing. Do some arm and leg swings to get the blood circulating through your body.

How you position your body raking matters!

You never want to bend at the waist if possible. If your rake does not support that, look into getting a more ergonomic rake or get a rake that’s taller so you don’t have to bend over to rake. Also, make sure that you’re alternating sides when you rate. If you start on the right, do 10 strokes and then switch to your left and do 10 strokes.

Try to rake out in front of you an toward you with your hips pointing forward. Try not to twist to move the leaves behind you. Once you have completed all of your raking there are a couple things left to do.

Stretch!

You want to make sure you drink lots of water and stretch for at least 15 minutes when you’re done. Pop on the tv and stretch while you’re watching.

Get some protein.

Drink a shake or eat some eggs, find a way to get some protein in your body to help speed the repair of muscles that you just used. Eating protein after will help reduce soreness and inflammation.

Repair and replenish

Remember to drink plenty of water to help flush the toxins from your system. You can also take an Epsom salt bath to help soothe aching, tired muscles.

See your CBP Chiropractor

Another thing you can do to help with muscle soreness is to get a CBP Chiropractic adjustment. Doing all that manual labor can throw your body out of alignment and cause subluxations. Seeing your chiropractor will remove those subluxations and reduce the amount of pressure on your spine. So make an appointment with your Chiropractor after you do any strenuous activity.

(repost from September 2018)

Back to School: Backpack Safety

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It’s that time of year again when kids, teen, and adults are going back to school and that means book bags! So what is the right way to carry your books?

Safety First

Backpack safety is very important, especially as children are growing. They are carrying heavy textbooks to and from class and they should only be carrying 15% of the child’s total weight on their back. So if they have more than that you really have to look at re-evaluating that weight by taking things out or considering an alternative way to cart their books around, such as a rolling backpack.

The Correct way to wear a backpack

How you hold your backpack is important as well. You must make sure to carry the backpack with both straps on and close to the body, not hanging down. The backpack also shouldn’t be bigger than the child or adult wearing it. In addition, if you can find a backpack that has a hip belt attached to it, this can help redistribute the weight from your back and shoulders to your hips. This can make the pack feel lighter.

If you have a backpack and typically wear it by only one strap this can cause structural problems over time. Because you are adding additional weight to one side of your body the other side of your body will try to counter the weight creating an imbalance.

What about Messenger bags or Totes?

You want to make sure that for these types of bags you are equally wearing the weight. If you have been carrying your messenger bag over your right shoulder for the past hour switch to the left for the next hour. Create balance so that your body can function at optimum levels.

How do I know if I’m wearing my back the right way?

If you have questions about the proper way to wear your bag come into Active Family Chiropractic. For the month of September AFC will be conducting complementary ergonomic evaluations. This isn’t only for how to wear your backpack but they can be applied to how your workstation is set up or how you sit and type. Really anything that could use an ergonomic overhaul. AFC will give you an ergonomic evaluation and give you easy suggestions to help support your body.

So call and make an appointment at 518-452-2800 or send us an email at [email protected]

 

Why are my neck and back muscles always tight? Part 1: Bad posture.

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Have you ever wondered why your neck and back muscles are always tight? Why is it that your lower back aches at the end of the day? There are a number of factors that contribute to this. Bad posture, not exercising enough and bad nutritional choices are only a few. In this 3 part series, we’re going to talk about the biggest contributing factors to neck and back tightness.

Bad Posture

We’ve talked about it before, how you sit, stand and move through space can dictate the function of your muscles. Sitting at a desk for hours at a time is not ideal and sitting slouched over is even worse. Putting your spine in a compromised position can cause discomfort to your lower back and put tension on your spine.

In the workplace (or if you work from home).

Our job may dictate the amount of time we spend sitting. So here are a couple of things you can do to help ease that tension.

  • Invest in an ergonomic chair. If your boss won’t spring for it or you work at home, purchase one yourself. Your health is important. If an ergonomic chair isn’t in your budget, grab a lumbar support. You can find them on Amazon for as low as $20. These are great because they are easily transferable to your office, home and car.
  • Get up and move. Set a timer. Every 20 minutes you should get up and stretch out. Go grab a drink of water or head to the supply closet, whatever you do just move every 20 minutes or so. This will help minimize that stress on your back from sitting and give you a little boost to your metabolism. It will also give you a small jolt of energy. So if you’re feeling sluggish it’s a great way to wake yourself up.
  • Adjust your monitor. The position of your monitor can impact the health of your neck and back. If you spend the majority of the day staring down at your screen, you’re going to develop some severe neck aches and encourage slouching which leads to pain in your back. Raise your monitor so that you’re looking at it straight on. If you use a laptop, invest in a Bluetooth keyboard. There is a whole slew of them for under $20 on Amazon. This will allow you to raise your laptop screen to the appropriate position while allowing you to keep your shoulders relaxed and hands in a good typing position.
  • Keep your shoulders back. When you sit in your office/desk chair, practice keeping your shoulders back. This will prohibit you from slouching and help you develop some nice back muscles.
  • If you have to lift something, lift with your legs. We have all heard it. Lift with your legs, not your back. Comparatively, your legs are infinitely stronger than your back will ever be, so practice good lifting techniques. When lifting, keep your core engaged and back straight. Also, don’t try to be a hero. Have a friend help you lift.

At Home and everywhere else.

All of the above applies at home or anytime you are sitting for long periods of time. You want to make sure that you are positioning yourself so that you won’t have to deal with neck and back aches in the future. Provide support to your lower back while sitting, remember to always lift with your legs and try to keep your head in neutral position. Keeping these things in mind as you go through your day-to-day, as well as regular visits to your chiropractor, will help to minimize neck and back aches.

Have a healthy day!

 

 

 

About Us: Learn about Chiropractic Biophysics (CBP) through the stories of a CrossFit athlete, a passionate artist, and parents of twin babies

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