Your head weighs on its own, and in perfect skeletal alignment approximately 8-10 pounds. When your head is on the slightest angle looking down (forward head flexion) at your phone or computer screen, the weight it transfers to your neck and shoulders is up to 60 pounds. This added weight significantly strains the cervical spine and surrounding soft tissue. This is just physics - forward flexion of the head increases the compressive load exponentially. This is why neck, shoulder, back pain and headache is so prevalent amongst people with desk jobs or those glued to their phones all day long.
How-To: Home Office Set-Up
Adjust your chair height. Your elbows should rest slightly forward from your body. Elbows at 90 degrees with forearms supported either on desk or arm rests. If your feet aren’t flat on the floor put something under them to rest your feet on. Knees should be slightly lower than your hips. Your backrest should be ~100 degrees not 90 degrees.
Adjust your monitor. Arms length away, and the top of your screen should be level with the top of your head. Prop it up if not adjustable. Turn down the brightness of your screen. if you are using one monitor this should be positioned directly in front of you. If two, line them up so you are in the middle of them both. If you have a laptop use a kickstand to raise the height. You’ll need to use an external keyboard + mouse.
Keyboard should be placed where your hands rest in front of you, and mouse right next to your keyboard as close as possible to prevent reaching.
