How to Improve Your Desk Posture to Relieve Carpal Tunnel

Any sort of posture adjustment is a challenge because it means changing something that has become an unconscious habit. Nevertheless, it is one of the most effective ways to slow the progress of carpal tunnel syndrome (if you already have it) or stop you from developing it (if you aren't there yet). It can also help relieve other types of repetitive stress conditions that computer users are occupationally prone to develop. Read on to learn how to improve your desk posture to relieve carpal tunnel.

Things You'll Need

• Desk chair with adjustable height
• Keyboard tray with adjustable height
• If the monitor height is not adjustable, you'll need a monitor stand or other means of adjusting the monitor level.
• Wrist pad (optional)

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Instructions

• 1

  First, adjust the height setting of your desk chair so that when you plant your derriere right up against the back support of the chair, your knees fall comfortably into a bend and your feet are flat on the floor, slightly ahead of them. Once you have found and set this comfortable height, make a conscious effort to keep your back in contact with the back of the chair while sitting up straight at the same time. This should bring your arms and elbows into a right angle slightly above the keyboard, with your forearms horizontal. Try to memorize how this feels, focusing your consciousness on the base of your spine against the chair, then on straightening up your spine and tucking your shoulders in slightly. Don't focus on your arms, wrists or hands; you want them to fall into a comfortable position without forcing them in any way. If your chair is the right height and and your spine is correctly positioned, this will happen.

• 2

  Next, check out the height of your monitor. As you sit in this position, are you looking up at it? Down toward it? Or straight ahead, with your neck square on your shoulders? Most people find their monitors are on the low side and need to be raised slightly.

• 3

  As you focus on your work, read material on the screen, and type, you will tend to lean in toward the monitor. Start trying to alert yourself to return to this centering posture every four or five minutes, always starting with that point at the base of your spine. We'll come back to this in a minute.

• 4

  Now take a closer look at how you hold your hands while typing. Do you bend your wrists in towards your thumbs? Or out towards your pinkie fingers? Are you holding your wrists down, letting them rest on the keyboard or a wrist pad while you type? All of these hand/wrist positions exacerbate carpal tunnel or increase your risk of developing it. The best position for typing is a neutral one, where your hands extend straight out in front of you and your wrists don't angle. Even more important, your wrists should be on the same level plan as your hands or slightly above them. Otherwise you will put a much greater strain on the muscles and nerves of the wrist, and it is more vulnerable than your fingers. Once you've gotten your hands into this neutral position, take a mental snapshot of it in the same way that you "set" your back posture in alignment with the back of the chair. Important: If you use a wrist pad, try to remind yourself that it is intended to rest on when you are not typing. The same applies to armrests, if your chair has them. Resting your wrists on this type of support while you are typing is a great way to increase your risk of developing carpal tunnel, or making it worse if you already have it. If you can't train yourself not to do this, you may need to remove the armrests or get rid of the wrist pad.

• 5

  Now, build the mental snapshot you've just taken onto the centering posture I asked you to remember in Steps 1 and 2, and construct a little one-two-three drill for yourself. For count one, lower your spine against the chair. On count two, straighten your upper spine and tuck in shoulders. For count three, straighten out wrists and keep forearms horizontal. It should take you less time to do this than it does to read it, just a couple of seconds.

• 6

  Your final task is to develop a habit of doing this drill to realign your posture at regular interval. Some people may find it useful to set reminders on your screen, or alerts on their PDAs/iPhones. Others find ways to build it into the type of work you do by linking it with some aspect of that work. If you pay attention to this, religiously, it can enable you to replace previous bad habits of slumping, slouching, shifting your weight to one side, etc. and significantly reduce the discomfort you feel at the end of a long hard day in front of the computer.