concerned that we might be damaging our health by sitting standing and texting without due thought a physiotherapist offers us a corrective guide deceptive because of how insidiously they creep up on you cricks in the neck can often be inexplicable strangely you hardly ever remember lifting anything heavy physical strenuous activity hasnt been a part of your regime in a long while and for all its repetition wrong side of the bed just doesnt seem like an explanation thats all too satisfactory bhatia hospitals physiotherapist dr tushna unvala says there has been a substantial increase in the number of people who come in reporting either a back or neck pain most cases can be ascribed to bad posture people slouching in chairs bending down etc they are otherwise very conscious about their health but with small missteps in their daily routines individuals make themselves vulnerable to larger health problems with an aim to correct our common follies dr unvala recently conducted a seminar at the bhatia hospital where she detailed the importance of body postureswhen the body is in a particular posture for a very long duration only some select muscles get stretched and taxed while the others remain largely unused if the said pattern persists it creates an imbalance the resultant pain then becomes chronic all this can be prevented by simple corrections that we can consciously imbibe she says mirror asked the physiotherapist to demonstrate how she would have us all sit and standthe working life despite our many protestations a large majority of us end up spending long hours in the office we are inevitably stuck behind a desk for a large part of the day ours is a lifestyle that has increasingly become sedentary and while we get overtly stressed about work we tend to ignore our body we sit in the same posture for long periods of time because of this the lower back and neck muscles are the ones that get taxed the most says dr unvala the doctor lists some tips for the workplacedos and donts dont stoop or crouch over your desk as this will tax the muscles of your neck and shoulders dont dangle your feet from the chair make sure they are firmly on the ground do not sit in the same position for more than 3040 minutes get up periodically and walk around your office try going to the water cooler for your water instead of slouching make sure you pull back your shoulders do some stretches to alleviate the tension in your muscles raise your hands over your head lock your fingers and stretch also rotate your neck and do shoulder rolls at regular intervals your wrists and forearms should always be placed on the table parallel to one another they should not dangle from the desk without support place a rolled up towel or a cushion on your chair this will pro vide support to your lower back and help maintain an erect posture it will