Think Posture
Flexible working practices and hot desking may be good for our business but it can be bad for our body. Many sectors are reporting higher levels of sickness caused by hot desking.
Desk heights and office chairs can take time to get accustomed to. Sitting for long periods places a lot of stress on the spine. Fortunately our muscles, particularly the core muscles, will strengthen to support the spine.
Our muscle memory then takes over and most people will work pain free with their postural positioning being maintained unconsciously.
However, hot desking or flexible working can throw our muscle memory off. With our core muscles attuned to our normal or previous office set-up even a small change in desk height, screen height and chair type can cause discomfort, throbbing back or neck pain or even severe muscular injury.
How To Beat The Hot Desk Back Pain Blues
Our posture can say a lot about the health of our muscle functions. Poor posture is usually caused by a lack of core strength or muscular imbalance. This will lead to injuries and back pain and can quite often result in extended leave from work or doing the things we love to do. Slouching and slumping are indications of this lack of core strength. A study found that slouching may even make you feel sad.
Once the preserve of athletes, the benefits of balance and stability training are slowly moving into the mainstream consciousness. This type of training improves postural strength, spinal stability and coordination.
The exercises performed on the Rooboard for balance and stability are also scalable. From seated exercises with very little physical exertion to high intensity interval workouts there is an exercise and routine for every requirement.
The Rooboard is being used by hundreds of people for rehabilitation, sports specific training, fitness and improving functional movement and strength – especially in older users.
Balance and stability training engages the muscles and fibres that we take for granted. These are the muscles that stop us from slouching when seated, that enable us to stay upright when we slip or tread on an unstable surface, the same muscles that also enable us to react unconsciously to a dynamic environment.
By training these muscles we are training our unconscious mind to have faith in our body. To help us to have confidence in our movements and postural strength, regardless of how unstable our office or working environment is.
