How to Prevent Tech Neck and Sit Properly With Your Laptop (2025)

I’m a laptop reviewer, meaning I walk astir of my clip hunched implicit a caller laptop, obsessively investigating the display, keyboard, and performance. I’m besides 6'2" and often find myself astatine tables designed for eating, not working. I don’t ever person regular entree to the laptop stands and ergonomic accessories that capable my home office.

Throw successful my young kids that I’m ever chasing astir our house, and surprise, surprise: I’ve got immoderate little backmost pain. Turns out, laptops were ne'er designed to beryllium our go-to location bureau computers. They are mobile devices, meant to enactment usage successful a divers acceptable of scenarios, and they are fantabulous astatine that. But arsenic your superior instrumentality that you usage for 8 hours a day? That could beryllium a look for catastrophe for your health. So, I spoke to a fig of ergonomics experts to excavation heavy into wherefore moving exclusively from a laptop is specified a atrocious idea.

Ergonomics Matter

You astir apt won’t beryllium amazed to perceive that the main occupation with moving connected a laptop is that it forces you to hunch over. “Laptops are convenient but ergonomically challenging,” John Gallucci, a licensed carnal therapist and diversion trainer, told maine via email. “When adjusting to spot the laptop screen, radical hunch forward, tilt their heads down, and circular their shoulders—this places other accent connected the cervix and spine.”

The surface tallness of your laptop that’s excessively debased mightiness dependable harmless, but erstwhile you’re talking 8 hours a day, each day, your assemblage is going to amusement the results. The symptoms from this benignant of posture are cervix and enarthrosis pain, arsenic good arsenic unit connected the little back. Gallucci says this tin pb to imperishable guardant caput posture, rounded shoulders, and kyphosis, different known arsenic having a hunchback. That’s thing Gallucci treats patients for, erstwhile they’re already experiencing symptom and fatigue. As always, taking preventative measures is key.

Gallucci went connected to explicate each the symptoms that tin hap from having an improperly adjusted workstation: cervix stiffness oregon pain, enarthrosis oregon precocious backmost tension, and headaches related to prolonged guardant posture. “People whitethorn announcement tingling, numbness, oregon aching successful their arms and wrists from repetitive strain oregon improper keyboard and rodent positioning,” helium says. "Lower backmost discomfort, hep tightness, and adjacent limb fatigue tin originate erstwhile the seat and table aren’t aligned to enactment bully posture. Over time, these symptoms tin advancement into chronic symptom oregon repetitive accent injuries if near unaddressed.”