Column Mind and Body Check-up: Changing your sitting posture helps relieve symptoms of office syndrome

Dailynews Published 5 October 2022: Office syndrome or myofascial pain syndrome refers to repetitive stress injury associated with physical stress and poor postures. This condition is not subject to any particular occupation, but most commonly found among white collar worker.

There are also some other factors affecting your poor physical conditions including bad sitting position, dimensions for ergonomically unfit tables and chairs, bad neck position, stress, etc. If these adversities are left without treatment, acute or chronic injuries may occur affecting your daily life.

In some patients, numbness around arms and hands may be found due to high pressure on peripheral nerves for a very long time. Office syndrome is responsible for injuring different parts of body system including muscular and bone system, digestive system, and visual system. To reduce chance of having office syndrome, self-observation and health conscious are required. Department of Integrative Medicine, Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi (RMUTT), therefore, offers a helping hand to the general public by raising awareness of office syndrome using practice guidelines to Thai tradition medicine. Some common body parts affected by office syndrome conditions are neck, shoulders, shoulder blades, wrists, upper back, lower back, hips, etc. Some office syndrome sufferers may find sharp pain in their leg(s), some may feel discomfort on their neck and shoulders but some may even suffer from a really bad headache. Generally, pain spot or area associating with office syndrome may not be detected easily. For some it might be just a simple, short period of pain but for others, it could last for a long period of time with pure agony.

Some would say that having office syndrome is all about unhealthy habits. Since most OS sufferers tend to have poor sitting positions with limited of movement while working, repetition of muscle spasm may lead to myofascial pain. To ease or cure any of office syndrome symptoms, suitable tables and chairs and regular exercise could play a vital role in adjusting your body postures and easing pressure on your intervertebral disc which could avoid any fractures on the spot. In case you are concerned about having spinal fracture, go get yourself checked by a doctor for the right and quick treatment, avoiding any complications. Get yourself on the right position while working with your computer. While sitting comfortably with right posture, your visual level should be a little bit higher than the screen’s edge with the appropriate viewing distance from the eye to the front surface of the computer that is equal to your arm length.

Your keyboard should be placed on the table right at your elbow level making a ninety-degree angle. Your seating ought to provide your lower back a support. In case your chair is nonadjustable, you should lean your back against the chair to make a 90-degree angle. Try to balance your weight distribution under our feet while sitting. Hopefully, changing your unhealthy habits could prevent you from getting muscle pain or office syndrome, in particular.