Confession time... I am an Occupational Therapist and I hate to admit it but I have bad postures too! I work from home and can spend long hours at my desk. I know what it is like to get into a zone and then realise I have been sitting for hours on end and even more so, how my body pays the price after I have done this.
The other day I was on the phone with my mentor. Now usually, when we have our hour long mentoring calls you will find me sitting at my desk, phone on speaker, hunched over a note pad. But something was different last Tuesday. I made a conscious change. Instead of adopting my usual bad postures I decided to make a change – I put my mobile headset on, put a note pad on the kitchen bench and spent the duration of the call walking – of course when I needed to I walked to the bench and jotted down a few notes, but not sitting for that hour made all the difference to the rest of my workday. And you know what else, when I told my mentor that I was walking around my lounge room whilst taking the call, she said she was doing the exact same thing except she was in the garden. Maybe next time I will be in the backyard – if Melbourne’s weather will let me!
Improving postures and reducing pain at work, is not all about how good your ergonomic set-up is. Yes these things are important, but as I always tell my clients even having the best ergonomic equipment and set-up is not going to solve all your problems if you continue to sit for hours and hours on end. Ultimately, the ley to improving postures and reducing pain is about making a commitment to behavioural change, to breaking those bad habits and implementing strategies to make you more active during your work day.
So, next time you think about sitting down to make your phone calls try something different – put your headset on and take a stroll. You will feel the difference even this small reduction in sitting time will make to your day.
So, what are you doing to look after yourself today?