Dubai: A sedentary lifestyle and poor posture — sometimes due to poorly designed furniture, especially at the workplace — are the two leading causes for the rise in cases of spine degeneration in the UAE, specialists said. Even people under the age of 30 are not immune to the malaise.
Dependency on new technology such as smartphones is making us use our bodies in ways not intended by nature. Hours of slouching at a desk staring at a computer and lack of exercise means plenty of lower and upper back problems in the making.
Dr Imad Hashim, consultant neurosurgeon at City Hospital Dubai and the local chair at the Global Spinal Congress held some months back in Dubai, pointed out that nearly 85 per cent of the world’s population has some kind of back pain. Nearly 20-30 per cent of the UAE’s population suffers from degenerative spine disease, he said. “Spinal injuries are occurring in the UAE even among teenagers. I operated on a 15-year-old girl with a lumbar disk.”
The extent of a sedentary lifestyle led by UAE residents is the incubator for spine-related problems. “People here do not exercise as much as people in other countries. They do not even walk because they are always using their cars.” Add poor weight control and unchecked eating habits, and there is no respite from back problems.
Another important contributor to the back problem issue is office furniture. Given that we spend a big chunk of time at the office, sitting in chairs and working at desks, inappropriately designed furniture can take its toll too. “While all office workers today use desktop computers, only 10 to 20 per cent of them actually sit properly while working at them, said Dr Hashim. “At home, everyone spends hours using gadgets with their neck down, and this is making them prone to long-term back and neck injuries.”
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association surveyed roughly 29,000 computer users and found that 52.7 per cent were working with at least one form of daily musculoskeletal discomfort. The average lost productive time among those experiencing discomfort was more than 5.2 hours per week.
Dr Stan Pierce, Clinical Director of the Atlas Spine Centre at the Dubai Health Care City (DHCC), seconded Dr Hashim’s observation. “Teenagers all over the world today are suffering from what is called ‘Texter’s neck’. Excessive peering into the phone screen and constantly engaging in chats has caused this problem.”
He added that poor posture at the work place was one of the main reasons for malalignment of the vertebrae. “Over time, poor posture at the workplace as seen in everyday activities such as sitting in [non-ergonomically designed] office chairs, staring at the computer for long hours, cradling the phone between your ear and shoulder so you can multitask while you talk, carrying heavy laptop bags with shoulder straps, long hours of driving in a slouched position...” There are many ways in which we subject our body to unnatural postures thorugh the day, Dr Pierce said.
At office or even at home, sitting in a chair means paying attention to a singular consideration: is your lower back well supported? Most designs of chairs may not align with this requirement and most people do not use a lumbar support seat cushion to compensate for this lack of support. Maintaining the natural curve of the spine is essential and promotes “good posture” over time, Dr Pierce added.
This is where ergonomics comes into play at the workplace. Defining the term, Kirsty Angerer, Associate Ergonomist (UK & Ireland), Humanscale, told Gulf News: “A basic definition of ergonomics is ‘the science of fitting the task to the worker, to maximise productivity and minimise fatigue, discomfort or injury’
In order to differentiate the right pose from the wrong pose, she offers two illutrations:
The problem
Our posture when using a computer is driven by two things; our hands (keyboard and mouse) and our eyes (monitor).
If the monitor and keyboard is positioned too far away from us, we inevitably will follow this and lean forward to use the tools on our workstation. This leaning posture also known as trunk flexion is one of the leading causes of lower back discomfort.
Not using the full support of the backrest and cradling the phone in between shoulder and cheek is also a problem.
The solution
We would want to start by adjusting the chair appropriately. The following guidelines apply to making chair adjustments:
Seat height: Adjust height such that thighs are nearly parallel to the floor.
Seat pan depth: Adjust depth such that there is at least two inches of clearance behind the knee.
Lumbar support: Adjust the curvature of the backrest to the small of the back.
Armrests: Height should not exceed seated elbow height.
Recline mechanism: Should support frequent postural shifts and promote movement. The next step would be to bring the user back to the workstation. The desk surface may present some issues as it is a fixed height so the user may need to lift sitting height so that the elbows are parallel to desk height. Some individuals may need a footrest to help support the lower body and avoid ‘contact stress’ under the thighs. We would then need to bring the keyboard and mouse closer so that one can recline comfortably in the chair whilst also reaching for tools in a neutral posture. The monitor height should sit at eye level (top third of the screen) and be approximately an arm’s length away in a reclined sitting position. To avoid cradling the phone, it should be placed on the opposite side of the dominant hand. When the dominant hand is the right one, the phone should be positioned on the left side of the desk. This will enable one to pick up the phone with the left hand whilst keeping the right one free for other tasks.
Chair workout for neck and back
Adjusting your workstation appropriately isn’t the only important part of working comfortably. It is also important that we also take regular breaks. 2-3 (30-60 seconds) micro breaks per hour would be the most beneficial. This enables the computer user to step away from a static posture, increase blood circulation, enable them to stretch and refocus before continuing with their task.
Dr Hussam Touma, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at Medcare Orthopaedics and Spine Hospital, suggest the following easy workplace exercises to relieve pain.
Neck rotation stretch: Relieves tension from neck muscles
Shoulder shrugs: Relaxes shoulder
Scapular adduction (moving shoulder blades in and out): Relaxes upper back
Triceps stretch: Relaxes shoulders
Adduction stretch: Interlink fingers, contract back muscles and release for upper back comfort
Shoulder flexion stretch: Good for relaxing shoulders
Lumbar rotation stretch (while sitting): Eases lower back
Upper back stretch: Takes stress off from upper and middle back.
