How to Achieve the Ideal Ergonomics Posture

ergonomics posture I believe a proper ergonomics posture at work is one of the most important ways to take stress off your neck, back and shoulders, while ensuring maximum productivity! Unfortunately, most people have no idea how to achieve proper ergonomics in the workplace. In order to make sure your productivity isn’t limited secondary to back and neck pain, let’s discuss some of the keys to achieving an ideal ergonomics posture.

4 Steps to Ideal Ergonomics Posture

  1. Proper Chair Positioning – Your positioning as you sit in your chair is absolutely critical to ensuring a good ergonomics posture. First, adjust the height of your chair so that your knees are level with, or slightly below, your hips. Next, scoot forward in your seat so that about half of your thigh is on your chair and about half of your thigh is off. This ensures your feet are planted firmly and flat on the floor, which allows you to distribute some of your weight through your legs, taking stress off your back.
  2. Find Your Neutral Spine – Finding and maintaining a neutral spine is critical in all of your daily activities, but it is especially important in achieving a good ergonomics posture. If you are not familiar with the concept of neutral spine, click on the link below to watch an instructional video on this topic. This video teaches you how to find your neutral spine in standing, but you can apply the same principles to sitting.
  3. Position Your Shoulders Correctly – To position your shoulders properly, raise your arms as demonstrated in the picture below.ergonomics posture

www.TheBackUniversity.com/neutralspineinstanding

Next, bring your elbows back so you are “pinching” your shoulder blades together. Now, slowly lower your arms but keep the shoulders blades down and back. I like to use the example that if I put a pencil between your shoulder blades, you are trying to focus on keeping that pencil in the same place so that if I let it go, you would be able to keep the pencil in place without it falling.

One thing I want you to pay special attention to is that you are not shrugging your shoulders up toward your ears. Instead of shrugging the shoulders, make sure you pinch your shoulder blades together while keeping your shoulders down. You want to imagine that you are not only squeezing your shoulder blades together, but that you are also trying to pull them down toward your back pockets.

4.    Head Positioning – Another important key to improve your ergonomics in the workplace and achieve an ideal ergonomics posture is properly positioning your head and neck. To do this, simply pull your head back so your ears are lined up over your shoulders. If it helps, you can actually take your index finger, put it on your chin, and push your chin straight back so that your ears are now over your shoulders. The last component of proper head positioning is slightly tucking your chin so your eyes are looking about 15 degrees below the horizontal plane. Ensuring your head and shoulders are properly positioned will decrease back and neck pain by eliminating unnecessary stress caused from poor posture.

The Ideal Ergonomics Posture Will Feel Awkward at First

Now that you know the keys to finding a good ergonomics posture, don’t get discouraged if this feels really unnatural. A lot of people jokingly say they feel like the “Tin Man” from the Wizard of Oz the first time they try this position. Some people even say they don’t feel they can do any work in this position. That’s because most people are used to having such poor posture that it feels awkward to get in a good posture. If that is the case with you, keep working on it…your body will quickly adjust to your new, ideal ergonomics posture.

I want to encourage you to start implementing these keys today. Not only will you notice less stress on your neck, back, and shoulders, you will definitely notice increased efficiency and productivity in your ideal ergonomics posture!