EN 74: "Ergonomics, movement and better posture"

When I was a kid, I could sit down for hours on end playing video games. Nowadays, sitting for an hour makes me uncomfortable, my neck starts to hurt, or my back gets stiff. Working as a software developer doesn’t help, I’m deskbound.

In the past, I spent a lot of time researching the perfect ergonomic chair, how to sit properly and adjust my environment. My idea back in the day was that sitting for hours should be comfortable, after all, that’s what lots of people do. A second hand Herman Miller was my first ergonomic chair, after that, a Steelcase and I can confirm that they do help in enabling you to sit comfortably longer, but there’s a cost. You’ve probably seen the many headlines about sitting too much being harmful, some more dramatic than others, but the point stands: sitting for hours straight or a high volume of sitting is not healthy.

Ergonomics and Repetitive Stain Injuries

On top of that, while ergonomics matter to a degree, there’s no perfect posture one can hold forever pain free and in a healthy way. The best posture is the one that changes frequently. When sitting, it’s okay to slouch, to lean to one side of the body, to sit upright with 90 degrees angles…most postures are fine as long as we change them regularly, and the body often tells us when with discomfort. If I sit “ergonomically” for a long time, I’m going to feel uncomfortable, and will want to slouch or lean to a side, and when I stay in those postures, I’ll feel discomfort again and change. The idea is not to force it and flow.

I say that ergonomics matter to a degree, because of course there are better postures than others and Repetitive Strain Injuries exist. It’s important to have a good setup, it’s better to type with the wrists straight than bending them awkwardly—à la a guitarist playing a barre chord—or to sit straight rather than to hunch over the screen. Way more important than the ergonomics when sitting, is to actually avoid doing it for long period of time, and, in general, moving more, changing postures and taking frequent breaks.

Carpal tunnel syndrome

I’ve had CTS since I was a teenager. Most likely caused by the many hours playing video games and in the computer. When I started to play guitar, I needed to be careful with it, as it could worsen the symptoms. The common denominator is the repetitive part of the activity and not taking breaks. I was playing games for hours or having long guitar workouts with little to no rest, often pushing through the pain. I’m stating the obvious here, but the issue in RSIs is the repetitive part.

Taking rests and reducing the volume of the movement and position is critical. When it starts to feel painful or uncomfortable, listen to your body. For guitar, doing a proper warm up for the wrists, elbow, neck and shoulders also helped as well.

From the ergonomics side, finding ways to use the mouse less often or eliminate it was massive for my wrists. The frequent lateral movements of the wrist when moving the mouse, having to move the elbow outwards to grab it and other related movements were only aggravating my symptoms. To reduce the times I used the mouse when coding, I focused on using the keyboard more, learning shortcuts for my most common actions in the IDE. At one point, before I forgot most of the shortcuts, I was pretty good navigating WebStorm and VS Code with the keyboard.

From guitar, I learnt that I can use my arm for big movements and leave the wrist only for precise ones when needed, which reduces the volume of the repetitive wrist movements. For example, if I want to move the cursor to the right, I can do it from the elbow or the whole arm, leaving the wrist stable. With a trackball it’s more visual, as I can swipe the ball in any direction to get a big movement without bending the wrist at all—like a DJ.

Eventually, I managed to be pain free for the most part and play guitar and code with no problems.

More movement

At this point, don’t rush to buy a standing desk or an underdesk treadmill, although they can be useful. I have one of those manual standing desks, no motors or anything like that, just a good old reliable crank and I can’t be happier—except when I go to the office and see how smooth and effortless a motorised desk is.

Standing for long hours is also not great, especially if doing it “properly” implies being a statue, rigid and upright, only moving the wrists and fingers. The standing desk gives me the ability to switch between standing and sitting. When I stand, I move, shifting my weight from side to side, putting a foot on top of a yoga block, “dancing” in place, etc. Having a standing desk is not required, the key is to break prolonged periods of sitting. I can’t comment on underdesk treadmills since I don’t have one, although the thought of buying one has crossed my mind, I just go out for walks a few times a day instead.

To remind me to move more during work, I set a timer, like a pomodoro one, thirty minutes to an hour depending on the situation. When the timer ends, I take a few minutes to rest and walk a bit. Generally, every block or two, I change from sitting to standing, but sometimes I stand for a few more blocks if I’m comfortable. Even if I don’t set a timer, because it might not be feasible, or I can’t work standing up, I try to take regular breaks to move during the day.

Seems obvious, but when it’s time to take a break when I’m working from home, I avoid moving from the chair to the sofa, or from the chair to the bed. There are times when I’m in autopilot, and it feels natural to go to the sofa and check the phone, social media and the like, but I try to be aware of it, because it’s just more sitting. Moreover, constant social media or being plugged in to the internet all the time doesn’t count as resting in my book if the goal is to replenish my attention. If I check the phone, I rather do it while walking.

I also use the breaks to do “movement snacks”, small doses of regular movement: a few squats, push-ups, pull-ups, light kettlebell swings… Doing them regularly, at least four or five times in the day, helps me feel better, with less pain, my mind’s more active, less lethargic. There’s no way to do pull-ups in a normal office, but squats are quite possible. I definitely recommend giving these “snacks” a try, adapting them to what you can do, and look for ways to include more movement and different postures during the day. Some ideas:

• A few seconds or minutes relaxing or doing stuff in a squat. You can try sitting in a yoga block or something with enough height so you can be in a squat-like position. Sitting in a heel elevated squat is another alternative to make it easier.

• Experiment with sitting in the floor more, for example in seiza (kneeled position), with the legs open, etc. The floor is more uncomfortable than a chair or a sofa, encouraging you to naturally change postures frequently.

• If there’s an online meeting in which you can stand up and walk with the laptop or the phone, go for it.

As I write this, I’ve gone through several blocks of time standing up. During the breaks I’ve sat down in seiza, relaxed in a squat position (sometimes with my heels in a mat, others in the floor), walk for a few minutes, do a few pull-ups and squats… You get the gist.

The idea is to keep moving during the day, sometimes finding creative ways to do so, and avoid the same positions for a long time. Movement is a foundation, we’re built to move, not to be deskbound.

What’s going on with me?

This is my last newsletter of the year, unless I randomly decide I want to write about a topic. I’ll take the next two weeks off and resume it on the 10th of January.

Consistency hasn’t been the strong point of the newsletter this past month, and probably I’m way too critical on me for “failing”. It has been a struggle for many reasons: lack of energy, brain fog and neck pain and not finding the time or the right mindset to write.

On a different note, I’m thinking of migrating from Beehiiv to Buttondown at some point in January. If I have some time during holidays to set up things correctly, you’d start receiving the newsletter from my custom domain (alejandronapoles.com) in the next email. Also, on the side, I might look at Astro to replace my unused blog and connect the newsletter, but it’s just a fun project.

Happy holidays!

Interesting links

• Foundations: types of disability (Demelza Feltham). “We are all, in essence, temporarily abled. As an ageing society, the reality is that our abilities are not fixed - they change over time”

• Your company needs Junior devs (Doug Turnbull)

• Why Shopify is Bursting with enthusiasm for carbon removal (Kethan Joshi).