Awkward Posture
Posture refers to the position of different parts of your body. Muscles, tendons, and ligaments must
work harder and can be stressed when you are in an awkward posture. Awkward posture occurs when any
joint of your body bends or twists excessively, outside a comfortable range of motion
Various work activities can result in awkward postures:
i) Leaning sideways, such as when reaching into a low drawer to one side (awkward back posture)
ii) Bending down to work at a low level (awkward back posture)
iii) Reaching overhead (awkward shoulder posture)
iv) “Flaring” the elbows out to the side (awkward shoulder posture)
v) Bending the wrist when moving objects or keyboarding (awkward wrist posture)
vi) Bending the neck down, such as looking at small components in poor lighting conditions (awkward
neck posture)
vii) Twisting part of the body, such as twisting the neck to view documents while keyboarding for a
long time (awkward neck posture)