I'm sorry but you can't just sit all day at a computer and not have your muscles protest. You may be able to do for days, weeks, years without protest, if you are especially young, strong, immune to pain, or sit absolutely correctly. Even then, there will come a day when your body says, ENOUGH! Let me up, let me up, let me up!

We were made to move, that's why we have all these muscles and not one single muscle, like a slug, that just tugs us around from spot to spot. We have muscles all over, for every conceivable purpose, job and position. And they work in tandem, the bicep does not merely flex, or shorten, in order to pick something up, the triceps, the agonist muscle, does the opposite at the same time, it lengthens. And other muscles all around lend their help also, the deltoid, the trapeziums, the rotator cuff. Every thing works in a group. If you've ever watched an athlete really throw a baseball, you know his arm doesn't do it alone, his shoulders work, his hips, even his legs, feet and toes; he throws it with his whole body.

The body is happiest when we move. So sitting all day in a computer with nothing moving but your eyes and fingers is like putting the rest of the muscles in prison, solitary confinement, they ACHE to move. It's keeping them from what they were designed to do - MOVE!

So don’t think your body is a lemon just because it won’t sit in a certain spot doing a certain task all day. If you ache, feel pains, numbness, general dis-ease, then it’s because your body wants to do its job. You can help it but getting up, changing positions, stretching, exercising, going for a walk, practicing yoga, and at the very least, getting into the proper position to do each task. That’s the least you can do in any given moment. Whether it’s working on the computer, taking out the trash, gardening, walking, talking on the phone or carrying a bag of groceries. Think of your body as a WHOLE UNIT, then use the whole body to do each task as ergonomically correct as possible.

I see people every day that come in for massage with computer neck, blackberry thumb, mouse hand – all some dysfunction of the body because of misuse, overuse, and lack of opposite use. Let me explain. Yes, you have to do some tasks each day, and yes, many can cause these problems. I certainly sit at my computer hours each day, I read books that I can’t put down, I get overtired and don’t stand correctly when I give a massage.

BUT, all day long I keep my body in mind and do little things to ease its discomfort. I sit absolutely correctly at the computer, I’ve even built a platform for my chair and raised my screen on a book so that my feet are flat, my thighs are horizontal, my back is straight, there is a little curve in my low back supported by a task chair, my forearms are horizontal, my elbows are close to my body, I have a pad under my right wrist for the mouse, I have a pad under both wrists for the keyboard, my eyes look out at the screen and a little downward.

I do all of these things so that I am sitting and working with the least amount of discomfort for my muscles in the long run. Additionally, I look away from the screen often, I get up often, and at the end of the day I walk, practice yoga, stretch and roll on a tennis ball. I make sure to take my body into the opposite position, as best I can, that I have made it stay in for any length of time. I unfold myself the opposite way. The opposite of sitting at the computer is something especially that stretches the front of your hips, the hip flexors, which have been trapped in a 90 degree bended shape. One of the best things for that is the cobra position, as we call it in yoga. And any variation of cobra. Just lie on the floor and rise up so that you are resting on your elbows and forearms, and just bend gently backwards. See how this is the opposite of sitting? Hold the stretch 30 seconds. Sometimes I even take the tennis ball and put it on the hip flexor, or on the quadriceps, whatever muscle or group that seems to be stuck in a contracted state, and I keep it there a bit, probably 30 seconds or less, until I feel that muscle relax.

These things I do so that I can work on the computer each day without pain and without long term consequences. Forethought, consideration, reverse the movement and genuine care of my body’s muscles. For all they do for me, it’s not much to ask at the end of the day is it?

There are websites and books to help you with your own particular brand of unease in motion and stillness. Whether you play golf or tennis, play the violin, or knit afghans – there are plans of action to care for your body. I’d start with sitting correctly when at all possible and then consider other things from there. Mother was right, posture is very important.

And start today, bad postures, poor ergonomics, dysfunction, pain, habit, deformity, all of these increase as we age, exaggerated curves of the spine increase, deepen, and the potential for pain and suffering increase with it.

2007 © Lisa Henderson, NC-LMBT #4665. This article not to be copied for commercial use.