If you’ve been following my posts, you’re starting to realise that I keep harping on about how common neck pain is among office workers. During my pre-corporate practice days, lower back pain and knee injuries were the most common ailments I treated. Once I moved into the corporate environment though, I was totally amazed at the high incidence of neck pain I encountered.
There are various reasons for this high incidence of neck pain in an office environment. One large part is people’s posture while they work at their desks day in and day out (read my post on 4 monitor positions to cause neck pain). Another reasons for this higher incidence of neck pain is the high stress levels people are exposed to in the modern day office environment (read my post on stress and neck pain).
More and more computers are taking over and we’re working with less and less paper in our offices. A completely paperless office though, has not yet arrived for most of us. Does it really matter?
Who of you find yourself constantly referring to papers, writing on documents, capturing data from sheets and then working with the information on your computer as part of your job? I find this quite common among book keepers, data capturers, etc.
How does working between papers and a computer increase your risk of developing neck pain? There are a number of factors to consider in these scenarios.
- When people work with papers/documents, I find few people actually have a proper document holder to hold the paper/document at eye level. Instead, I find that people are placing the papers/documents on their desk instead, causes people to bend their neck for long periods of time during the day, increasing the risk of developing neck pain. The solution is to use a document holder which will allow you to keep the papers/documents that you are working with at eye level if there is no need to write on them. If there is no money in the office for a document holder, rest the paper/document against the computer screen and use a stapler to keep it there. It works just as well and is free.
- If there is a need to write on documents, I find that people often tend to place them flat on their desks, forcing a bent neck posture which increases the risk of developing neck pain. If you do need to write on paper/documents while working on your computer at the same time, grab an arch-lever folder that will slant upwards like the old school desks when we were in primary school. This will allow you to keep a more upright posture while you lean on the folder and make notes on your paper/document. You can then flip it back onto your chest when you need to type, and then flip it back down over the keyboard when you need to write again. It’s a slightly irritating thing, especially when you’re not used to it, but, before throwing out the idea, weigh up the pros and cons of getting used to working like that versus experiencing frequent bouts of neck pain.
- I also find that when people are working with documents on their desk, they may push their computer screens back and out of the way or move their computer away to one side to allow them space to work on their desks. Pushing your computer far away from you and placing documents on the table between yourself and your computer and keyboard will create a poking chin posture, which is a high risk posture for developing neck pain (read my post on spinal posture and pain). Placing your computer screen to one side is another high risk posture for developing neck pain. Both postures create compressive forces on neck joints resulting in an increased risk of developing neck pain. The solution here is the same for the scenario above: use an archer-lever folder as well as bringing the computer screen back to a position straight in front of yourself and to the correct distance from yourself when you work (read my post on how to to correct the distance of your computer screen to reduce neck pain).
