Home Back Pain Relief Top 5 Best Office Chairs for Back and Neck Pain with Buyer’s Guide 2017Does this sound like you?  After a day at work, you have terrible neck pain and shoulder pain?  Do your eyes hurt?  Do you have a headache?  If so, then this article should be helpful for you: it's full of tips for how to avoid neck pain at the office. It will focus on making sure you are using the best computer screen for your needs, as well as positioning the screen to avoid twisted postures while working. In addition, eyestrain and headaches can be caused by uncorrected vision, poor image quality, screen glare, and by screen viewing distance.  Checking all these details can help you prevent neck pain that may be accompanied by upper back pain. Tip #1:  Check Your Vision Make sure your vision is properly corrected before you make changes to your computer screen set up. Natural changes in vision occur in the early 40s. Periodic eye examinations by a qualified professional are valuable.

Tip #2:  How's the Image Quality on Your Screen? Make sure the screen image is: If not, try adjusting the screen brightness, contrast, refresh rate, and resolution to give you the best quality image. The screen image must be a comfortable viewing size. Most software programs allow you to magnify your screen content to a comfortable size. If screen content is too small (or large), then select a different font size or use the zoom function. Tip #3:  Avoid Screen Glare The screen should be free from any bright reflections (specular glare), and the screen image should not appear to be 'washed out' (veiling glare). To avoid glare, you might need to reposition the screen, dim the overhead lights, or use an antiglare filter to cover the screen. Sometimes a hood can be placed around the screen or the screen can be slightly tilted up or down to eliminate the glare. Using a privacy filter on your screen can help because you will only be able to read your screen when you are properly aligned with it.

Tip #4:  Watch How Far Away Your Screen Is The screen should be at a comfortable horizontal distance for viewing. If you can't position this at a comfortable viewing distance, it is better for the eyes to have the screen too far away and zoom into the content rather than sit too close to the screen. indoor chaise lounge chairs for saleThe most comfortable viewing distance is usually is at least an arm's length away from your body.tub chairs ebay uk Tip #5:  Make the Screen High Enoughparty chair rentals baltimore md The ideal vertical position for the screen depends on the size of the screen and the size of the casing around the screen. Your eyes should be in line with an imaginary point on the screen about 2-inches below the top of the visible screen image when you are seated comfortably.

Several research studies have confirmed the best position for most users is to have the center of the screen about 17-18 degrees below horizontal for optimal viewing. Tip #6:  Don't Make Yourself Twist to Look at the Screen Neck pain can be caused by working in a twisted posture. To eliminate neck twisting, place the computer monitor directly in front and facing you; not at an angle to left or right side. A screen that is too high or low can also cause neck and shoulder strain. You will tilt your head backwards to look up if the screen is too high and crane your neck forwards if too low. Tip #7:  Adjust Screen Position for Your Corrective Eyewear If you wear bifocals or progressive lens, you may have to make minor adjustments to the screen position. However, if you sit back in your chair in a relaxed, reclined posture and follow the above guidelines, you should be able to see the screen without an awkward neck posture. Tip #8:  Get a Document Holder If you also work with paper documents, you should use a document holder that positions the paper so it can be comfortably seen.

This might involve using either an in-line document holder that fits between the keyboard and screen; a document holder mounted at the side of the screen; or a freestanding document holder positioned next to the screen and slightly angle closer to you. Concluding Thoughts on Avoiding Neck Pain at the Office Why not try a few of these ergonomic tips at your office or workplace computer setting? You might be surprised to find that by making a few adjustments, working at a computer can be more comfortable and increase your efficiency, too!  The overall bonus, though, is that these tips may help you avoid neck pain.Although it’s “just a desk job,” working in an office can wreak absolute havoc on our bodies. If you’re somebody who spends all day at a desk and computer (which I’m guessing applies to a majority of the Nerd Fitness Rebellion), you know exactly what I’m talking about. Whether it’s lower back pain, wrist pain, a really tight neck, or a lack of mobility, when we spend all day at a desk to pay the bills, our bodies often get stuck picking up the tab.

What can we do to counteract this office life we have to live? Although I’ve done some crazy things like exercise around the world, most of my time is spent sitting at a desk for 10+ hours a day, connecting with readers, writing articles, and watching stupid cat videos on YouTube. I feel like I’ve cracked the code for staying limber despite sitting all day, and I want to share it with my fellow desk-dwellers! If you work a desk job, you probably spend more time at your desk than you do at anything else in your life. And yet, that time is often spent sitting in a chair that’s too low, with a desk that’s too high, and our necks bent down looking at a screen at an angle that makes us feel like Quasimodo. That can result in all sorts of nasty stuff, like eyestrain, shoulder pain, back pain, arm pain, wrist pain, and neck pain. Desk jobs might not seem physically taxing, but they can certainly cause us some physical problems. If you’re going to level up your office life, it’s time to do a desk audit.

So let’s start with setting your desk chair at the proper height so you can type without scrunching your shoulders up. I swear, 90% of desk/chair combos, in offices or in coffee shops have this ratio wrong. You want to sit in a chair at a height where you can sit with your shoulders relaxed and pulled back, you’re sitting up tall, and your forearms are parallel to the ground or or lower, meaning you don’t need to reach up to your keyboard, nor shrug your shoulders. I can tell when I work at a desk that’s the wrong height, and you probably can too: my shoulders shrug up, I get tense, and my neck bothers me for the next few days. So, set your desk at the right height for you! 1. PICK A GREAT CHAIR: You probably spend more than a third of your existence at a desk chair, so do what you can to make sure you’re setting in a chair that is not destroying your spine! Last year, in an effort to fix my back issues, I bought a great desk chair (the Herman Miller chair).

Honestly, it’s been fantastic, and my back feels great sitting in it for extended periods of time. But, I know it’s incredibly pricey. You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on a great chair (unless you can afford it) – you simply need a chair that has an adjustable height so you can set it so your feet are comfortably on the floor, a solid cushion to sit on, and good lower back support. If your company supplied you with a crappy office chair, ask for the money to buy a good one (“it’ll improve my productivity!”), and head to an office supply store and try out a bunch of chairs. If they won’t pay for it, consider making the upgrade yourself. A quick search on Amazon revealed this chair that has the best reviews ever – not bad for $150! 2. SET YOUR MONITOR AND DESKTOP PROPERLY: If you work with a laptop, you are spending most of your day hunched over a tiny keyboard and trackpad. Even if you work with a desktop computer, it’s certainly possible the monitor is not high enough for you to be able to not have to tilt your head down to look at it.

You want the height of your monitor to be such that you can look straight ahead and not have to adjust your neck angle to view the screen. After spending a few years hunched over a laptop, I fixed my posture by adjusting where my eyes have to look by drastically raising the height of my monitors. Just raising my viewing angle was enough to get me to stop slouching, I no longer shrug my shoulders for hours, and my spine/back/shoulders/neck no longer hate me! You don’t need anything fancy. I even just added some books to get the right height: You don’t need to spend a lot of money to change your setup, and I’ve found that the inexpensive solutions above were well worth the money invested. Feel free to prop your monitor up with whatever you have around. For laptop users, a separate keyboard and mouse can alleviate a lot of the “cramped” feelings and prevent you from ending up hunched over a laptop. IF YOU WANT TO REALLY NERD OUT: check out this cool site from Ergotron (note: not a member of the Autobots).

Simply put in your height and it can help you determine the height of your chair, keyboard, and monitor. Now, if you have Quad Desk, or a Dwight Schrute exercise ball, you will probably have a different set of problems on your hands. This should get you started with setting your desk up to win. But what about the rest of the day when you’re not sitting? Along with having a properly constructed office or cubicle, there are a few other things you can do to combat officitis: THE MOST IMPORTANT THING – don’t stay in the same position for hours upon hours!  Studies suggest the best plan for prolonged spinal health is to consistently alter your work environment – move around, stand when possible, sit…just don’t sit in the same position for 8 straight hours! Set a timer every twenty minutes, and get up and do something! Take a lap around the office, do some shoulder rolls, neck rolls, or twists. I use a program called “focus booster” that pings me every 20 minutes to get up and do something (take a lap around NF HQ – my apartment – or do a quick stretch).

If you have your own office, or you work in a cubicle and don’t mind getting some funny looks, feel free to try some of the following: The Couch Stretch: because I’m on my ass all day, my hip flexors tend to get tight. So I make sure to do a two minute-couch stretch every single day to help open up my hips: The Thoracic Bridge Stretch (Hat tip to my buddy James Clear for finding this): Consider dropping down into a basic body weight Grok Squat: To answer your final question: you do not NEED a standing desk, even though the internet has a LOT to say about sitting all day. I often stand when doing basic tasks like checking email or chatting with Team NF, but I really struggle with writing creatively while standing, so I’m almost ALWAYS seated for article writing. If you ARE interested in a standing desk, we’ve actually already written a whole article about it on Nerd Fitness a few years back, but most of the ergonomic advice from the regular chair carries over.