How to combat poor at-home work posture

Working from home presents many questions to sort out. One of the more important is: Where do you actually work?

On the couch? At your dining room table? At the counter? In bed?

The answer matters because it’s important to focus on good posture while working from home to prevent a tight neck, sore back and aching wrists. And where you’re doing the work may be the problem.

But what is ‘proper’ posture?

Proper posture while seated should include your feet flat on the ground, directly underneath the knees. The legs form right angles with your butt on the chair and your knees coming out directly straight from your hips. You want to avoid having your legs dangling from a chair that’s too tall or sitting in a cramped style.

Moving up the body, focus on the spine being in proper alignment. Often the spine rounds forward as you’re typing on your computer or working on something in front of you. Fix this by bringing the abs in toward the spine, lifting the chest and rolling back the shoulders. You want your shoulders to be stacked over your ribs, and your ribs to be stacked over your hips.

Next, bring back your head so that your chin is over your sternum or your breast bone – not jutting forward over your body.

Finally, rest your arms on a desk or surface that provides a 90-degree angle so that your elbows can be bent at your sides and your forearms stretched out in front of you onto your computer or surface.

Ideally, you’d have your computer monitor at eye height and your elbows hugged in at the sides of your waist. However, if you’re working on a laptop computer, that is near impossible without an external keyboard. So, focus on the elbows hugging in at your sides with your forearms extended out to the keyboard, and look down to the computer screen with your eyes while keeping your spine in alignment and your chin back.

Props can help

Depending on where you’re sitting, you may find it’s introducing new problems into the equation. But problems often have solutions.

Problem: Chair is too high.

Solution: Put books, boxes or an ottoman underneath your feet so that your legs make a 90-degree angle — your knees stack over your ankles and your knees come straight out from your hips.

Problem: Slouching on the couch.

Solution: Sit upright on the couch with pillows behind your back, or sit sideways on the couch with your back against the armrest and your legs straight out in front of you.

Problem: Lying in bed.

Solution: Prop yourself up with pillows behind you, pillows underneath your arms and pillows underneath your legs. You want to have your knees bent and your arms propped up so that the elbows are at the same height as the sides of your body.

Problem: Standing and hunched over a counter

Solution: Prop your computer up onto boxes or magazines so that you can look at your computer at eye level instead of tilting your head down.

Exercises to combat poor posture while working

These exercises can be performed throughout the workday to fix improper posture.

Problem: Hunched shoulders, tension headaches, neck pain.

Solution: Perform a “shoulder square.” With your head facing forward, move your shoulders forward, up, back and then down. Repeat this five times forward and then reverse five times.

Problem: Rounded upper back, middle back pain and stiffness

Solution: Roll back your shoulders and reach your fingertips toward each other behind your back. Bring back your elbows and try to press the palms of your hands together at the middle of your back. If this is impossible, just keep the fingertips reaching toward each other. Hold for five slow, deep breaths and then release. This stretches the shoulders and sides of the neck.

Problem: Low back stiffness, tightness and achiness.

Solution: Stretch the sides of the body by pressing down firmly with your glutes onto your chair. Stretch your arms up toward the ceiling and clasp your hands. Reach over toward the right to elongate the left side of your waist. Hold for a breath, then switch to the other side. Repeat side to side five times.

Exercises routine to improve posture

Research shows that people who engage in a regular workout routine to improve posture have less pain levels in the neck, shoulders, middle back, lower back and pelvis. Adding in 20 minutes a day just three days a week helps.

To get you started, add in these exercises to your regular exercise routine:

Bent-over rows: Holding onto a set of 5-pound dumbbells, hinge forward at the hips and allow the arms to reach toward the ground. Draw your shoulders away from your ears, and hug your elbows into your sides as you pull the weights up toward your chest. Release and repeat 10 times. This works the muscles of the upper back to help keep your shoulders back for proper posture.

Forward fold and sway: Hinge forward at your waist and allow your arms to dangle toward the floor. Sway to the right and left, pressing down equally with both feet throughout this stretch. Hold for five deep breaths, and then slowly roll up. This relieves tension and tightness from the low back, middle back and upper back, as well as stretches the sides of the waist.

Cat and cow: On your hands and knees, place your hands directly underneath your shoulders and your hips directly over your knees. Then, arch your back as you look forward and bring your shoulders back to stretch the chest. Exhale as you round the back, pulling the naval in toward the spine and rounding the spine up toward the ceiling. Repeat this 10 times.

Squat with raised arms: Step your feet as wide as your hips and bend your knees. Reach your glutes back and make sure your knees are bent over your ankles. Then reach the arms up toward the ceiling but relax your shoulders. Pull in your abs toward your spine. This increases mobility in the hip flexors, strength in the legs, strength in the arms and trains your body to sit back in a chair with the spine in a straight line.

Breaks from work

Even if you are in perfect posture while working, standing up to take a break, stretch and move your body is imperative. Getting up every 30 minutes is what’s recommended according to current research.

You could take a walk around your house, march in place and pump your arms up or stretch. This will improve the circulation in your body and even reduce your risk of death due to sitting. Placing an alarm or notification on your phone or work calendar is a simple way to ensure that you’re following these recommendations.

Standing desks are also a great way to combat the sedentary nature of working from home. You can create your own per the above suggestions or invest in a premade standing desk.

However you choose to work, focus on elongating your body rather than tensing or rounding yourself into a ball. Elongating the neck, spine, and torso, and supporting the lower body with a stable foundation (90 degrees at the hips and knees), will help you create your perfect work-from-home posture.

Stephanie Mansour, host of “Step It Up With Steph” on PBS, is a health and wellness journalist and a consultant and weight loss coach for women.