Dealing with knee and back pain at work

Since most of us have desk jobs, we know that it is important to get up and move your legs. As you sit behind a desk for several hours, the blood circulation to your legs decreases and this can cause blood clots to occur. The blood in the legs is the farthest away from your heart so it takes longer for it to get pushed back to your heart. If you are not an active person, your blood pressure may be extremely high and you are at an increased risk for a heart attack.

Not only do people deal with leg pain, they often deal with back pain at work too. This is because the chairs do not have enough lumbar support and they are not properly positioned with the computer. You need to have a chair that allows you to sit up straight. Even though it feels good to slouch sometimes, you will be causing more back pain to occur by doing so. Ergonomic office chairs will help you maintain proper posture. When you sit for prolonged periods of time, your back is in a static position. Similar to your legs, the back needs to move and have exercise to stay healthy. When the back is in the static position, the pressure on the back, neck, shoulders, arms, and legs will all increase.

To help reduce knee and leg pain at work, stretch your legs often. Try to get up and walk around every 45 minutes or so. This allows the blood to start flowing properly and it gives the muscles the exercise it needs to feel good and function properly. If you are overweight, the best thing you can do to relieve the knee and leg pain is to lose weight.

Eat foods that will nourish your body. Fruits and vegetables are some of the best food choices out there for your body. If you have high cholesterol, you need to consume more whole grains and vegetables to lower it. Eating healthier really will start to reduce your leg and knee pain.

Try wearing some compression stockings to reduce your leg pain. The compression stockings will help if you have any swelling in the legs and it helps to improve circulation in the legs. Most people that wear the stockings do not have as much pain in their lower legs.

Now that you have your leg and knee pain under control, let's work on improving your back pain. Besides your chair, there are several other things that increase back pain. The desk, keyboard, computer monitor, mouse, and other things in the office all need to be properly aligned in order to reduce back pain.

Adjust the chair to your proper height that is in line with your desk. When you sit in your chair, your elbows should be at a 90 degree angle with your hands resting on the desk. You should have plenty of room underneath your desk to slide your hands under, try not to have too much room because this actually hurts your posture. Leave at least a finger-width of room or about an inch or two between the desk and your thigh.

As you sit, there should be lower back support that causes your back to arch slightly. Try to avoid slouching or slumping in the chair because this will start to cause problems for your lower back. If the chair doesn't help you sit properly, purchase a lumbar support cushion. Always make sure your chair has arm rests. Arm rests can help to reduce the strain and tension placed on the neck and shoulder muscles.