Programming is harmful to health and coding and cherished

For most programmers, it is common to bend over and hold your head on your desk for several hours and press the keyboard on your computer. Day after day, year after year. I know this clearly because I am one of them.

As time passes, the head begins to lean forward (1), the shoulders start to unconsciously pull down (2), and the back gradually bend forward (3) and the angle formed with the buttocks is less than 90 degrees (4 ). These undeniable symptoms are overwhelming evidence that such sitting posture affects our health: headaches and Chin pain, gastrointestinal problems, and a beer belly that makes us handsome. If the body is shouting, it hurts, can we work well? The answer must be no. If it is serious, it will also affect the quality of our work, destroy our confidence, get hurt, and regret it. To avoid this situation, many experts suggest that we improve our sitting posture.

Is the correct posture in the textbook. The display can be placed in the center of sight or a little lower, so that the head can be kept upright (1 ). The Shoulder is slightly backward, and the back is naturally formed into a slight radian (2 ). The elbow forms a 90 degree angle (3), and the forearm remains horizontal.

Correct sitting posture can improve the overall form, which is also the saying of the ancients "sitting and sitting posture ". But this is only a small step in improving the health of our programmers. But for senior programmers like me, this method will soon be left behind by me, and my body will involuntarily restore the harmful sitting posture. I still lean forward and shoulder. Then, about a year ago, I finally made a wise decision and decided to change.

Start with no result

It was very difficult for me to fight against this sitting posture, and because of my height, the problems exposed were even more serious, like the bamboo being bent by a storm. Therefore, in last April, when I saw that I became a gym member and offered free training courses for one person, I was so excited. I think this is a good opportunity for me to learn about posture and exercise myself.

In the first course, the coach arranged a series of exercises for me to observe the overall health and whether there is any need for improvement. I always thought that my body should be relatively good, but this test turned my mind upside down and I couldn't finish my abdominal and hip exercises well. God, how can this happen?

Dynamic chain

There is a concept in Physical Therapy Called dynamic chain. The essential meaning of this concept is that we cannot separate the various motion parts of the human body. If a part of the body is hurt or has unbalanced muscle development, the system function will compensate by spreading it to the muscles and joints of other parts. For example, an imbalance in gluteus muscle development will spread to the back and shoulders.

As I said, because I have been sitting in front of a computer for a long time, resulting in imbalance in my hip muscles. When we sat, our abdominal muscles were not involved. In the long run, the gluteus muscles contract and become short, and the abdomen is relaxed and expanded.

With the shortening of the gluteus muscle and the weakening of the abdominal muscles, our pelvis will gradually roll forward until excessive, which means our ass will bend before the meeting. In fact, to a certain extent, the front bend is normal, and our back has a certain radian under natural circumstances. Men are about 4-7 degrees, and women are about 7-10 degrees. But I am close to 15 degrees. The forward bend will spread to the dynamic chain, resulting in obvious back bending. The excessive bending of the back means that your shoulders and head are balanced, and you must lean forward to compensate.

In fact, whether we have the correct posture or not, this problem is unavoidable. Of course, correct sitting posture is certainly good, but it is far from enough for our programmers to fundamentally solve the health problem, at least for me.

My achievements

It is also very easy to solve the problem of pelvic tilt-Strengthening the abdominal muscles and gluteus muscles and stretching the back muscles and hip muscles. But in practice, it is a bit complicated.

I continue to exercise day after day (I have been working for several years) and start to strengthen myself purposefully. I have increased the lifting weight and hip extension muscles, as well as the spine and hip flexion muscles. In addition, there is also a reverse body, which is mainly for the triangle muscle, the purpose is to pull back my shoulder.

Recently I changed to a vertical desk, which is quite popular among developers. Undoubtedly, standing at work is very interesting. I like it very much, but I don't think it can fundamentally solve the programmer's health problems. As a matter of fact, most people's bodies suddenly fail to accept the change from sitting office to standing office. Imagine that the muscles in our abdomen and buttocks were relaxed and powerless, while standing in the Office would actually put a lot of pressure on the lower waist, just like a screw that remains intact and rusted for a long time, it is absolutely impossible to get up quickly without a great effort. When I made this change for the first time, my back pain immediately patronized me, but I didn't give up. Instead, I adopted the strategy of "standing for a while and taking a rest", and finally made my body adapt slowly.

A year has passed since I made up my mind to change my posture. My body has undergone earth-shaking changes, although it has not yet reached my ideal state. However, I have found many obvious advantages in various aspects. Due to the backward adjustment of my shoulders, many of my actions, such as lying-ups, have become more flexible than before. It is easier to pick up items from the ground or even lift weights, because my ass has a certain radian to adapt to this action, then someone told me that these changes were not satisfactory for those Yuan who complained about smooth buttocks all day long. Although I have no scientific basis to prove it, I have almost no problem with shoulder pain, and I am not tired of standing longer. In short, I have benefited a lot.

Maybe in the days to come, I will try my best to get rid of the troubles that may harm my health. However, I have found a method for gradual improvement, and I am determined to implement it and fight against it. However, due to our professional requirements, our programmers have to maintain the same posture on the computer for a long time. However, when appropriate, we can break this inherent pattern through multiple times of rest, body stretching, and outdoor sports to make us healthier, longer-lived, and more passionate, take your career to the next level.