As we attack a new year, the majority of you, whether working or studying, will be spending too much time back at your desk. These are just some of the disorders associated with Office Tasks: Neck/shoulder tension, Headache, Tendinitis of the wrist & forearm, Carpal tunnel syndrome, Mid-back/shoulder blade pain, Lower back pain, and Sciatica.

The Number 1 mistake people make is that they sit in one position for too long.

Studies have consistently proven the amount of time you sit at the computer (hours keying per day/per week) is more important than posture.

In a nutshell, after you’ve been sitting for a while, your posture starts to slip, in either 1 of 2 ways. If you are too tall for your seat, sitting in the standard office chair has you flexing your discs (L4-L5 and L5-S1) ie slumping.

The discs are opened and stretched toward the back, and this habitual positioning makes the discs weakest at the point where they are most likely to rupture. Slumping makes your neck crane forwards, placing strain on the joints in the lower neck and pulling on the base of your skull, leading to headaches.

If you are too short for your chair ie hyper-extending your low back, the facet joints are being compressed together at the back and the sciatic or other nerves may be pinched.

Add to this the possibility that you are constantly twisting in your chair to open a file cabinet to your side or to pick up a phone on the table behind you, and you have a recipe for back pain.

So your first priority at work should be to move about as much as possible set a reminder if you have to, because getting out of that chair to break the cycle is the best thing you can do to prevent back pain at work.