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We have an epidemic of bad posture

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Re: We have an epidemic of bad posture

#51
post #3

He's still not using an ergonomic keyboard. Typical keyboards require the user to press the key to the bottom to activate it, like pushing your finger into the desk. A mechanical keyboard switch activates halfway from the bottom, reducing the extra stress on your fingers. Here's a collection of other RSI stories, along with other ergonomic information: https://github.com/melling/ErgonomicNotes

> Typical keyboards require the user to press the key to the bottom to activate it For all I don't like about Apple, their aluminum keyboards are what I prefer and use, precisely for the reasons stated in the article, and to counter your claim, the Apple aluminum keyboard travel is very short, so it bottoms out much quicker and still gives a feel like a mechanical keyboard.

My claim was that you don't want to hit the bottom. If the bottom is "very short", isn't that worse? I don't know the numbers for Apple's keyboards? You activate after about 2mm on a typical mechanical keyboard. You hit bottom around 4mm, which of course, you don't want to do.

Re: We have an epidemic of bad posture

#52
About eleven years ago I started having crippling RSI in my hands and wrists. I fit the typical patient... Type all day sitting at a desk.

Posted about it on Slashdot and someone told me to look up TMS. Changed my life. After years of problems it completely went away in weeks. After years of searching for ergonomic solutions it was bizarre that following TMS treatment cured it in weeks and now I don't do anything ergonomic and I have had no problems for over a decade.

More info... http://www.rsi.deas.harvard.edu/mb_what_is.html

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vsR4wydiIBI

Re: We have an epidemic of bad posture

#53

100% agree with this article - I also don't know how more people aren't in the chiropractor's office weekly. I went through a particularly intense period of working on my laptop and it resulted in a neck spasm so sever it was like daggers trying to move my neck. The doctor prescribed Vicodin it was that bad. But only when I went in for a series of chiropractic sessions did I improve my neck at the source. Thankfully…

> I also don't know how more people aren't in the chiropractor's office weekly Maybe because there are no evidence that it's effective. https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/reference/chiropractic/

Chiropractors don't fall just into "straights" and "mixers", there are entire schools which focus on evidence-based biomechanic adjustments and others that get way more woo-woo about it with energy healing and whatnot.

https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/science-based-chiroprac...

That guy spent years being a chiropractor and while he acknowledges that the postulates of vertebral subluxation theory is implausible, he was also able to spend years helping people with spinal manipulations working as a chiropractor. It was only until recently that physical therapists began doing adjustments which began competing with chiropractics

Like with anything, there are good and bad actors and even a bad actor may help people even if their justification for why something is helping is fundamentally flawed.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Re: We have an epidemic of bad posture

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switching to a sit-stand desk is by far the best thing I've done: http://jakeseliger.com/2015/01/24/geekdesk-max-sit-stand-des... .

It sounds great but I'm wondering, would this be accepted in any company?

My coworkers just got some Ikea boxes and swap around from time to time between standing and sitting.

Re: We have an epidemic of bad posture

#55

Does anyone have an idea why, according to the author, a mouse being wireless is so essential?

While I agree with many things in this article, I don't agree with a wireless mouse. The only (modest) advantage I can cite for a wireless mouse is reduced friction thanks to removing that slight tug you will get the cable.

The upsides for a wired mouse are:

* Zero lag. Wireless mice add a few milliseconds of lag.

* Zero charging. It's never out of charge because you forgot to dock it at the end of the day.

* Zero stuttering. Even the best wireless mice sometimes stutter.

To my mind, the most important things for a mouse are:

* Get a mouse with extra smooth gliding surfaces. Most good gaming mice qualify.

* Get a properly weighted mouse. Again, most gaming mice qualify.

* Get a proper mouse pad. A gaming mouse pad will usually provide the best surface.

* Make sure the cable has proper slack.

* Set your acceleration properly so that you don't need to reposition the mouse often. Again, a high-quality high-resolution mouse really helps here. A gaming mouse can help if it has a "sniper" mode allowing you to engage a high-precision mode to click small targets in your UI.

Ultimately, yes, what I am recommending is get a lot of gaming hardware to do work, but it's actually great.

Re: We have an epidemic of bad posture

#56

Lifting weights can help, but it can also cause more harm when your routine isn't properly balanced. Doing only bench press and military press lifts for upper body is going to be a chest/tricep push heavy routine. If you're not balancing these pushes with pulls (chinups, pullups, rows, etc), it can promote issues like rolled shoulders, forward neck, weak traps, weak rhomboids or similar postural issues to those the a…

This. So much this. But even a cookie-cutter program can lead you down the wrong road because they assume that the person beginning the program is healthy. Most of the readers here spend our lives in globally flexed positions with abducted, elevated, and internally rotated shoulders and flexed, externally rotated hips. When we go to the gym, we need to train for the opposite. Training for global extension, especially emphasizing thoracic extension, is essential; it all starts and ends at the spine. External rotation at the shoulders is also important, as is scapular retraction and depression. Many keyboard users suffer from lengthened scapular adductors which (speaking from experience) may lead to anterior capsule impingement as the shoulder blades gradually 'wing' out farther and farther from the spine and force the glenohumeral joint forward. People like this (me) need to take extra care about how they train pressing.

The human body is a very complicated machine, but you have to start with the idea of a mechanical system. If the system isn't aligned properly (eg your posture sucks, you have a dysfunctional deep core, you're missing significant range of motion, etc) you have no business putting stress on the system. Weight training has a lot of benefits but most people end up just reinforcing their poor mechanics. When you grab a 5x5 off the Internet, you're basically betting that your body will automagically realign itself to normal (whatever that means) before you damage it beyond the point of recovery.

My advice- don't focus on moving weight, focus on moving correctly and use the weight as a tool to learn how. If you don't have a solid foundation in exercise fundamentals (your freshman football strength coach probably doesn't qualify), use a non-challenging weight while you learn. Also, start watching Dr. Kelly Starrett's videos.

Re: We have an epidemic of bad posture

#57
The article is a great starting point, but exercise in itself is not enough.

If you've worked for multiple years in a (seated) office setting, chances are you have tight muscles. Muscle tissue then gets glued together and stuff like forward rolled shoulders happens.

Now you go to a physical therapist with your neck or shoulder pain and he/she recommends you physical therapy. The problem is just, the area is too tight to react to the right kind of stimulus, so the trick is to first massage the area and then fix it with the right exercises.

Simple tools like a lacrosse ball (5 bucks) or a foam roller (10-20ish bucks) can work wonders IF used regularly and in the right fashion.

I've written about one part the issue here, called "text neck" https://bitehype.com/text-neck/ - I've also compiled some of these lessons into a free email course, where I dive into the topic a bit deeper: https://www.dailybitsof.com/courses/fix-your-posture

I hope that helps - open to any questions in that area (my expertise comes from years of injury/self experimentation, bunch of interviews with doctors, physical therapists and massage therapists as well as visits to sports clinics. Oh and of course interest).

Re: We have an epidemic of bad posture

#58

100% agree with this article - I also don't know how more people aren't in the chiropractor's office weekly. I went through a particularly intense period of working on my laptop and it resulted in a neck spasm so sever it was like daggers trying to move my neck. The doctor prescribed Vicodin it was that bad. But only when I went in for a series of chiropractic sessions did I improve my neck at the source. Thankfully…

> I also don't know how more people aren't in the chiropractor's office weekly Maybe because there are no evidence that it's effective. https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/reference/chiropractic/

I keep reading that, and then I keep reading about people who actually had good experiences with chiropractors.

This thread here: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/4ug8vw/this_chiropr...

You can see a clear divide. It's far from the homeopathy agreement that it's bullshit. It also seems like most people arguing against chiropractors have never experienced even a good massage and its benefits.

Re: We have an epidemic of bad posture

#59
post #21

Lifting weights can help, but it can also cause more harm when your routine isn't properly balanced. Doing only bench press and military press lifts for upper body is going to be a chest/tricep push heavy routine. If you're not balancing these pushes with pulls (chinups, pullups, rows, etc), it can promote issues like rolled shoulders, forward neck, weak traps, weak rhomboids or similar postural issues to those the a…

Do you have any specific beginner's routines you'd recommend? I was doing 5x5, which has pulls in the form of barbell rows and deadlifts; I don't know if that's sufficient.

Always put technique first. Start with the basic compound lifts. These represent idealized human movement. Use light loads while you learn what proper technique feels like.

Deadlift- Be careful not to overdo this, especially when you're starting out

Squat- Overhead squat is probably the best variation to master, but goblet squat is probably the easiest

Press

Bench Press

Dip

Pullup

Bent-over Row

You should also challenge your cardiovascular system in some way, preferably one that physically moves your body through space.

In addition, I feel strongly that recreational lifters should always emphasize mechanical alignment and efficiency over force production. So set aside the time to address any movement restrictions, prioritizing those that interfere with your ability to perform the above movements. For instance, if you have 0 degrees of internal rotation at the hip, you aren't going to be able to squat correctly.

Re: We have an epidemic of bad posture

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switching to a sit-stand desk is by far the best thing I've done: http://jakeseliger.com/2015/01/24/geekdesk-max-sit-stand-des... .

It sounds great but I'm wondering, would this be accepted in any company?

I work at a Fortune 500 company, in an open office area. I was the first person to use a standing desk, by cobbling some cardboard boxes together. And then I was kind of a promoter, and also mentioned to the department chair: "By any reasonable measure, computer use is a workplace safety problem waiting to explode." In fact I goaded him into getting one for himself.

Since then, quite a few people have gotten a VariDesk, and if you ask, your boss will just tell you to get one from Amazon.

If you think programming is bad, CAD is even worse. So far as wrist fatigue goes, I was in pain within a few months of getting my first Apple Mac, and quickly learned all of the keyboard shortcuts so I could minimize mouse use. A side benefit is that using a keyboard shortcut instead of an icon doesn't require you to focus your eyes on the screen.

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