Tag Archives: Body

Damages of Subtle Workspace Misalignment

I am currently treating an injury which, it turns out, was caused by a prolonged, repetitive posture misalignment at my workspace.  I had already done substantial efforts to try and properly align my computer set up, but this incident demonstrates how even a very small misalignment can sneak up on us even when we are trying to be very diligent and careful.

Through accumulation of exercise and work, I had developed pain in my right chest muscle (the pectoralis major). After a thorough examination,  a very skilled physiotherapist worked on releasing the knots caused by too much tension from the muscles: he then described precisely how the pain was coming from a very specific right-twisting movement (torsion) I had supposedly been doing consistently during the preceding days/months/years. I needed to find out what this movement was!

Computer MisalignmentHe told me to watch for any gesture that would resemble that twist and mainly to notice when the sore muscle (which was even more sore now that he worked on it) would get engaged. That would be an indicator that I am doing it again. Some of my guesses included guitar playing or often wearing a bag on the same shoulder, but things didn’t get fully clear until I got back to my computer’s work desk. Continue reading