If you're generally desk bound gazing at a computer all day you may be willing to getting headaches.
Rather than reaching for common headache treatment options such as pain releif medicine, or manual therapy, try adjusting your office posture!
If you are experiencing headaches that start at the back of your head and progressively migrate over your crown to the front of your head and finish up behind your eyes you might find that your work station is maybe the primary culprit. Too many work stations have the desk too high or more ordinarily the chair too low.
This is particularly common with shorter folk as they like to have their feet on the ground to aid support. Regularly the chair is too low and needs to be raised and a foot stool might be required.
When the chair is too low the shoulders have to elevate to raise the hands, this action turns on the levator scapulae muscles which draw the shoulder blades towards the ears.
As the muscles contract the bones of the higher neck are drawn closer together congesting neural and other vessel pathways. As this occurs the head often protrudes forward accelerating the lordotic curvature of the cervical backbone, adding to the difficulty. If this action is held for sometime without a break the muscles fatigue and become very beat, achy and sore.
Over years, the joints in the upper spine can become slightly worn out – degeneration of which makes symptoms more frequent, and more terrible.
This insistent sort of slumped posture could cause retro-orbital headaches (headaches that are behind your eyes) which can sometimes be noticeably reduced by some straightforward little changes to the workstation:
- The very first thing to do is to raise the height of your chair so that your shoulders are hanging totally free with your elbows just slightly higher than your wrists when you're typing or utilizing the mouse. You could need to procure a foot stool as your feet must be supported.
- Next ra ise the height of your computer screen so that the pinnacle of your screen is at eye-level. If you find you have to lean forward to read your screen it is always possible to enlarge the font.
- Try to change your sitting position each 10 minutes and get out of your chair each 30 minutes.
- If you're on the phone a lot try standing while you are on some of your calls.
These are perhaps some of the simplest prevention techniques available.
It literally comes down to sorting out your POSTURE in the bulk of cases to help in improving your situtation.
To help in this, your best options are to consult with a professional Osteopath, Phyiotherapist or Chiropractor.
Chris Cormick is a registered Melbourne Osteopath who specialises in the treatment of headaches and postural Problems in his Osteopathic hospital in Bourke Street, Melbourne city.