Ergonomics – What Is Your Best Posture to Work in?

Our parents, teachers, and grandparents used to say, “Sit up straight” to avoid or create bad posture. As older we get, it appears we struggle more with a correct position. The perfect position is very straightforward, but in reality, many factors influence our posture. After the pandemic hit, we started working from home and sit for prolonged hours. More and more people experience discomfort, pain, fatigue, and eyestrain.  We often ask, ‘What is the best posture to work in?’

Best posture

Your body position is important. What is the ideal setup? This is of course different for anyone, but we explain to you some general guidelines today. There is a couple of basic rules in ergonomics for an optimal posture.

If you look at the image below, you can see somebody sitting on an adjustable chair, this means that the height of the chair can adjust, or the armrest and the backrest can adjust. As you can see, he is using a normal desk, this one cannot move up or down and he is using a monitoring screen and a keyboard.  Look at the hips, eyes, arms, and legs of this person. First, you can see that everything is pointing in the same direction. If you take a moment to see the angle of the hips, arms, and legs, there are all 90 degrees. We are not looking at a specific 90-degree angle but just a nice, natural, and open-angle. We only want to have support for our bodies. Make sure your feed is flat and your back is supported. 

Next posture

Even if you work in a perfect position, the question of the best position to work in is easy to answer; Your best pose is your next pose. Because many people have to stay in one position for their work. There are many ways to avoid some of these prolonged postures. Think about stretches, building your own standing desk, taking calls when walking around, and be creative of other workplaces in your apartment or home.

Your behavior, posture, and movement are almost more important than the furniture you use. If you sit at a kitchen table with a normal kitchen chair, but you move often and you pay attention to your posture, you can still get a good ergonomic posture and experience less discomfort during your working day.

How can Fit for Work help?

To learn more about setting up or managing an ergonomics programme that supports staff working from home or in the office or support with staying legally compliant, you can reach out to Fit for Work. For more information on our Ergonomics Self-Assessment and Education Tool, contact us.