Choose to take a break

When under stress and deadlines, make breaks a priority. We need to understand the crucial importance of taking good care of our bodies while we are working at the computer. This is something to be taken very seriously, RSI injuries can be life changing! Often times, we believe that we need to keep pushing and going, even if we are beginning to feel sore and tired. We need to ask questions like: What will happen if I stop? Does the client really need this right now? (For students: If I don’t finish my project, will I fail? Are there alternatives that I can make? Can I speak with my professor?) Will the world stop if I take a break for 20 seconds? Will the world stop if I get up and take a break for five minutes? If the client misses the deadline will I lose my job? Is my boss going to fire me? (For students: Will I be kicked out of school?) What happens if I don’t have any money? What is the worst-case scenario? What are my choices? Who gets to choose? What is more important? Do I need my body for the rest of my life? Do I want to be debilitated? What can I put into place to help support my body? What is the most important thing to me? What are the possibilities in life? Am I limiting myself? Who is leading my life? How do I want to contribute to my family, community, work, world? What are my gifts? Am I utilizing my time effectively? Do I want to stay healthy and well? How can I balance everything to ensure my well-being? What can I do right now, today, to be ergonomically correct and to implement breaks?

Get moving :-)

Let's get moving! When seated at a computer it is important to have good posture and feel totally relaxed in our shoulders.  Keep things within easy reach. Keep your mouse close to your keyboard. Make sure your keyboard is not positioned up to high, so the shoulders can relax. Purchase a wonderful chair that fits your body. Try alternative chairs such as the "Hag",  (found Office Solutions in Missoula, MT) in which you actually straddle this chair and position body weight forward with your chest open, thus opening the shoulders and back.) Try sitting on an exercise ball or Dyna disk  to increase core strength (reference, Lambert Family Chiropractic, Missoulachiropractic.com)  Remember to get up from your computer often!

Did you know?

Wow!
According to Google Keyword Search (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) Missoula searches for relief of Carpal Tunnel 27,100 times per month, 22,200 per month for Repetitive Strain Injury and wants to know what exercises to do for Carpal Tunnel 9,900 times per month! Ergowellness in combination with Alpine Physical Therapy can help! Get up from that computer! Stretch your body, hands, fingers, shoulders, neck and back! Take micro-breaks all throughout your day Misssoula!

Nutrition and water

Support your body with proper nutrition and drink plenty of water. We should all be drinking half of our body weight in water per day. If we have water by our side while computing, this will help support us in getting up to get more water and going to the bathroom! Every break, no matter what it is is a support to our well-being :-)

During the time that I was injured by repetitive strain injury, I was under factors of fatigue, pressures from clients, and being stagnant at the computer as well as repeating mouse clicking many times during the day. In addition, I was undernourished because I did not take the time for a good lunch and sufficient other meals throughout the day. When I became injured, the body started drawing on the reserves of my muscles and tissues because I  had not supported my body enough nutritionally. This led to further injury.

Your computer screen

Please make sure that your computer screen is just slightly below eye level.

Most people are looking down quite a bit or do not have their screen up high enough.

Also, take a break from looking at the computer screen by looking away for a minute or two. Close your eyes and take a break :-) look up, look down, look all around :-)

Check it out!

Take micro-breaks!

In fact, take a look at this book “the four hour workweek” by Timothy Ferris

This book will help you become efficient and productive, promoting more time off of the computer!