If you have a sedentary job that involves typing on a keyboard and moving a mouse, then you're almost certainly adopting this posture without realizing it. And your body will make you pay for it sooner or later. "Shrimp syndrome" is the new ailment of the century, and it's not just a simple backache or a few twinges in the neck. Health specialists are sounding the alarm.
Are you an office shrimp?
Your job may require you to remain seated in front of a computer from morning till night. And during this long day of hard work, you don't always maintain a very healthy posture. Despite an ergonomic chair and a well-organized workspace, you can't help but fidget . You may even tend to hunch over and curl up.
Hunched back, head tucked into the shoulders, chest jutting forward… it's a perfect imitation of a shrimp, that shriveled crustacean with its comma-shaped body. This posture, enough to send osteopaths everywhere into a panic, is common to all office workers. It's practically an "open-plan office thing," a collective gimmick. Offices are teeming with shrimps in suits and pencil skirts. You might even be one of them without realizing it.
Instead of keeping your back straight, you hunch over your screen and practically crawl across your keyboard. And I hate to say it, but that's pure self-sabotage. "You create a lot of muscle tension in your back when your body leans forward. You're actually reducing lung capacity and restricting blood flow," warns Alan Hedge, an ergonomics expert and professor at Cornell University, in an article for HuffPost . Your body is silently suffering, and you're not just getting sciatica .
Symptoms of "shrimp syndrome"
If you suffer from "shrimp syndrome," your back isn't the only victim. However, it's usually where the first pain occurs. At first, you simply feel discomfort: a tender neck, occasional muscle tension, a localized discomfort that prompts you to self-massage. You constantly rub your wrists, hoping that will be enough to ease the tension. You keep your fingers pressed against the back of your neck to apply pressure where it hurts. In short, your body starts to speak up and let you know it's not happy.
In the long term, "shrimp syndrome" can lead to particularly debilitating chronic pain. Carpal tunnel syndrome, a nerve compression characterized by numbness or unpleasant electric shocks, is another example. "Shrimp syndrome" is unforgiving and can even affect unexpected parts of the body. If you experience acid reflux, slow digestion, and bothersome bloating that interferes with your concentration, it might be time to re-evaluate your posture and get back to being more human.
The right steps to prevent it
No matter how much you imagine a string pulling you upwards and making you taller, the inner shrimp within you takes over and pulls you downwards. But there's no secret to it: to maintain a correct posture, you need to be in the right physical and mental conditions. "When you lean back, your back makes contact with the chair back, which relieves some of your body weight, so your hips bear less of the load. Your breathing capacity improves," explains Alan Hedge. Hence the importance of having ergonomic and well-adjusted work equipment.
- You can also swap your regular chair for an exercise ball. This accessory, often associated with pregnant women, forces you to find your center of gravity and keeps you upright, without you having to strain.
- If you don't have the luxury of working on a desktop computer, you can raise your device to eye level and avoid straining your neck. Your eyes should be aligned with your shoulders.
- And we can't stress this enough: take breaks every two hours and use them wisely. Instead of scrolling and further ruining your posture, try some yoga poses. Stretch, move your body, shake it out. Doing the grasshopper or downward-facing dog on a foam mat is always better than slouching like a shrimp.
Listen to your body and don't ignore the messages it sends you. To feel completely at ease at your desk, ditch your slouching posture. You'll feel better and, most likely, more confident.
