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 complete a caller laptop, obsessively testing nan 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 nan 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 sewage immoderate little backmost pain. Turns out, laptops were ne'er designed to beryllium our go-to location agency computers. They are mobile devices, meant to support usage successful a divers group 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 disaster for your health. So, I said to a number of ergonomics experts to excavation heavy into why moving exclusively from a laptop is specified a bad idea.

Ergonomics Matter

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

The surface tallness of your laptop that’s excessively debased mightiness sound harmless, but erstwhile you’re talking 8 hours a day, each day, your assemblage is going to show nan results. The symptoms from this benignant of posture are cervix and enarthrosis pain, arsenic good arsenic unit connected nan little back. Gallucci says this tin lead 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 nan symptoms that tin hap from having an improperly adjusted workstation: cervix stiffness aliases pain, enarthrosis aliases precocious backmost tension, and headaches related to prolonged guardant posture. “People whitethorn announcement tingling, numbness, aliases aching successful their arms and wrists from repetitive strain aliases improper keyboard and rodent positioning,” he says. "Lower backmost discomfort, hep tightness, and moreover limb fatigue tin originate erstwhile nan chair and table aren’t aligned to support bully posture. Over time, these symptoms tin advancement into chronic symptom aliases repetitive accent injuries if near unaddressed.”