Zooming and Back Pain

Do you have back pain from zooming? Lying down on the floor for 5-10 minutes is a great way to look after your back, especially if you’re sat at a screen all day.

woman lying down on back, head on books, knees bent, feet on floor, hands on stomach

This allows your back to unfurl after slumping. The floor gives us support. Taking time out also benefits our mind. Stopping. Pausing. We can breathe more easily. Tuning into our self is mindful. Noticing our body. Noticing our emotions.

Set Up

  • Surface: Ideally, lie on the floor rather than a bed/sofa.
  • Head. Support your head with books so that your neck is in neutral. If there are too many books, your chin will tuck down and it may be difficult to swallow. With too few books, your head will roll back, pushing your chin upwards. Make sure the books don’t dig into your neck.
  • Legs. Bend your legs and look for a comfortable distance away from your torso.  Your knees should float up towards the ceiling independently: don’t lean them against each other. Ensure your feet are flat against the floor. Experiment with the distance between them: you want to to feel like your legs are balanced rather than being held tightly. You should be able to relax all the muscle groups in your legs, including those behind the knee. 
  • Arms. Place your hands on your belly or your chest. Alternatively, put them out to your sides, with your hands facing up. Ensure there’s some space under your armpits so you don’t end up bunched up under your arms.

Thinking

  • Release tension step by step. First, start thinking at the neck to let the neck free.
  • Think of your back lengthening and widening.
  • Think of your legs extending from the torso and your arms widening away from it.
  • ‘Scan’ down your body to find areas of tension and see if you can relax them.
  • Breathing slowly and deeply can also help your muscles release tension. After a little while, allow the breathing to be natural and not forced.

Benefits

  • Back pain from zooming can ease
  • Placing books underneath your head supports the whole body, giving muscles that are often tense a chance to relax.
  • It can help your posture. It helps shortened muscles to release and lengthen.
  • Calming the body helps calm the mind.
  • Taking time to tune into our bodies encourages a subtle awareness of ourselves. It helps us release tension, and become more aware of our posture in daily activities.

If you’re zooming when sitting on the sofa, have a look at these top tips too.

Children’s Posture at the Computer

child at laptop - poor posture as chair too low

I was visiting a friend at the weekend and their 9 year old was using the computer for his homework.  Whilst this looked a lot more fun than homework was in my day, it might not be fun in the long term (or even short term) for his back.

He was sitting at the kitchen table.  His feet didn’t reach the floor.  He was working at a laptop with a small screen so was having to dip his head to read the screen.  He was only using one hand to type and was twisted as he reached over the keyboard.  Because of this, his right shoulder was higher than the left, his back and neck were twisting and he was coming off his right sitting bone a bit.

Kids use computers for homework and computer games, browsing and drawing.  It is a disaster in waiting if we don’t address their posture – backache, neck pain, shoulder pain, tight hips are all waiting to leap at a potentially young age.  There are also implications for eyesight problems too if they stare at a screen for too long, keeping a limited focal distance

So, what can be done to help things?  Here are a few ideas:

  1. Awareness, awareness, awareness.   Parents, carers, teachers and young people all need to know that using our body well is as important as using the computer well.  Think posture first.
  2. Chair Height – shoulders.   The chair seat needs to be high enough so the forearms are parallel to the keyboard without raising the shoulders.  If the forearms are sloping upwards, the chair is too low.  Use books or a cushion to raise the seat height if it’s not an adjustable chair.
  3. Chair Height – legs.   If their feet don’t reach the ground or aren’t flat on the floor, put something under their feet.  Either some books/blocks or a small stool if they are really little.  Their thighs should be parallel to the floor.
  4. Screen Height.   Ideally, the top of the screen should be level with the eyes.  A separate keyboard is helpful for laptops so the laptop or netbook can be propped up on something to raise the screen height.
  5. Watch for twisting or slumping.   There’s a lot more to this than meets the eye which is where a trained Alexander Technique practitioner can advise.  But at least start to look at their posture and notice what is going on.  Also keep an eye on your own posture as children mimic adults.  I find that parents who bring their children to me to look at their posture are often slumped in the chair during our appointment!
  6. Don’t “Sit Up Straight!”   Following the above point, sitting up straight makes people hitch up and be stiff.  They often arch the lower back and push the chin up too far.  Instead, see if they can wriggle onto their sitting bones.  More gentle and may be more effective.

If adults and children are sharing a computer, then these adjustments needed to be made for each person.  It’s tempting to think that we’re only going to use the computer for a bit but we do tend to get a bit sucked in and then find we’re on it for longer than intended.

I’m happy to work with children.  They often only need a few sessions.  I do prefer that the parent/carer also has lessons with me.  It helps the adult have an experience and greater understanding of what we’re working with and will help them with their child as they can share ideas and insights.

Computer Monitors – Screen Height.

Correct computer monitor height  to avoid neck pain

To avoid neck strain, the top of your computer monitor should be at eye level, about an arm’s length away. Our eyes naturally look about 15 degrees down and so will then naturally look onto the screen.

There are various bits of equipment that you can buy to raise the screen but a cheap and cheerful option is to prop it up on some large books.

For laptops, it’s a different scenario as the screen is invariably too low and may even be a little close. This is fine if only using the laptops for short periods of time. If you are using a laptop a lot and don’t need it to be too portable, you can buy a separate keyboard and mouse. Ideally, the keyboard should be a “low profile” keyboard – one that is fairly flat. You can then prop the laptop up, an arm’s length away, with the top of the monitor at eye level. There are different types of kit available for this including ones that are like cookery book holders and others that are like bean bags. But, once again, you can always prop the laptop up on some large books.

Posturally, it is not good to push your head and neck forward to read the screen. This can cause neck pain, back and shoulder strain. It’s worth getting your eyes tested regularly to ensure you can see clearly.  You can also look at getting a larger screen or adjusting the print size on screen. But also trust your eyes as pushing the head forward may just be an unnecessary habit.

So as well as thinking about your computer set up, think about your body and how you use it.