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Jeremy Kenton on Good Posture When Working from Home
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Jan 13, 2025
Many of us having to work from home at the moment are unlikely to be enjoying the same ergonomically designed setup as we may be used to at the office. Poor posture, especially for prolonged periods, can lead to joint, muscle and back pain. Osteopath and BayRadio Health Correspondent Jeremy Kenton has some useful tips.
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this is Bay radio I'm Jeremy Kenton now
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we're all trapped at home some of us are
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working from home and we're spending a
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lot of time sitting at a computer or if
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we're not using a computer we're using
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our phone and think of the weight of
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that phone it may seem very small but if
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you think about it the posture that
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you're in has a huge bearing on what
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happens to you in terms of the
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production of pain so here we have a
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typical phone and most of us are going
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to be sitting there literally slumped
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with a head forward down position prop
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it up put it on something so that it's
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supported and swipe across leaning
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forward the weight of your head
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produces problems in terms of your neck
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so please be aware that if you're
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sitting for hours on end slump with your
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head forward it's going to produce neck
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pain and upper back pain and also
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similarly to the foam is our computer
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and most of us nowadays have laptops and
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that word laptop is actually very very
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wrong they're not designed to be used on
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our labs at all so how can we actually
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improve our posture so that we're
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sitting correctly and it's not going to
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produce pain well the first thing to
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remember is that your overall posture is
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very important in that if we are sitting
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slumped it will produce pain and if we
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think of the word computer itself so
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let's look all the letters of the word
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computer see the correct chair and it's
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very important that we are sitting in a
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good upright posture and making sure
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that your computer screen whether it's a
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a desktop or a laptop is setup so that
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it's in the correct position so think in
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terms of the fact that the screen center
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of the screen should be an eye level so
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that your eye falls on the top third of
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the screen very important think also in
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terms of the fact that you must have the
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correct chair now if you've got a desk
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set up at home
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make sure that the desk and the height
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of the chair are correct
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so that you're sitting there with your
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fingers on the keyboard at right angles
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so that you're not reaching up and
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you're not slumping down so the correct
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chair brought as far forward towards the
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computer as possible so see for great
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chair Oh for the optimum position of the
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desk and the screen so that you should
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never be twisted don't have your screen
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set to one side it should be set in
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front of you and it's very important
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that that should be positioned so that
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as I say the top third of the screen
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should be your eye level the malsum
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monitor position so many people have the
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monitor in the wrong position with your
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laptop prop it up on a pile of books
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don't be sitting there so that you're
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looking down and into the screen and
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also a wrist support for your mouse so
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you can get these gel supports or even
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just use something from home so it's
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supporting the wrist which takes the
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pressure off the shoulder because
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otherwise your shoulders elevated and
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that will then produce shoulder and neck
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pain so posture is very very important
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and getting up from time to time to take
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a break so an uncomfortable position if
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you're sitting there for too long or if
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you're holding up phone for too long
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will produce neck pain with pain
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shoulder pain elbow pain upper back pain
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so the time that you spend at your
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computer if it's far too long without a
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break will lead to problems low back
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pain neck pain everything begins to hurt
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and it's a stressful time at the moment
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so every 15 to 20 minutes and either put
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a post-it note on your computer screen
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or you can actually various apps that
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tell you get up from time to time and
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take a break and when you get up from
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time to time to take a break it should
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be stand up and stretch with your arms
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above your head standing up and then
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come down and then repeat a few times or
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if you're sitting there doing something
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where you really can't get up and walk
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around your desk just take a chunk of
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breath in and as you breathe in
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bring the shoulders up to elbows ears
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and then slowly breathe out letting the
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shoulders in the neck and the upper back
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relax
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so taking rests from regular repetitive
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tasks if you're putting data into your
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computer or if you're sending long
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emails take regular breaks and remember
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that it's not a bad idea if you've got
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an external people to plug that into
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your laptop and an external mouse rather
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than being very tight in terms of the
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way that you're using the computer so
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think in terms of that whole word
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computer see for correct chair oh for
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optimum position M for your mouse and
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monitor position P for posture you for
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an uncomfortable position
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so avoided T for time don't spend too
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long at your computer or your phone
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without taking a break efore the
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ergonomics so position your equipment
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correctly are taking regular rest and s
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for support for the wrists your feet and
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your mouse hand so stay safe
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you
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