How to Prevent Tech Neck and Sit Properly With Your Laptop (2025)
Kristianne Egbert has been working in professional ergonomics for almost 20 years and is now a senior business ergonomist at Briotix Health, an injury prevention company at work. Unsurprisingly, Egbert also says that the repeated use of a laptop alone on a desk will have a huge effect on your global posture.
Egbert referred to what is called the rule at 20 degrees. If you hold your neck at an angle of 20 degrees or more, you officially cross the risk threshold. “You are probably leaning on because you look forward to see this screen and be able to reach the keyboard,” she said.
Sitting further on your chair may temporarily seem a solution to the problem, but in reality, leaning beyond 20 degrees is not the real problem. Most people are not comfortable to hold this position for long periods, which means that this is what your body does else to compensate that is problematic.
“No one really wants to fold their heads up to 20 degrees,” explains Egbert. “So when you don’t want to fold your neck forward, then the rest of your body will try to adapt.”
You can tilt your back forward to avoid this extreme neck posture to type on the keyboard and see the screen of your laptop. This is where bad posture habits are really formed. It’s not that you just have to suck it and have a better posture. You have to change the way you work, not necessarily your discipline.
“The other thing that ends up happening when your back begins to tire you is that you are like” ok, well, I will back down a little to keep your back a little more straight “,” she said, demonstrating the position on the call of zoom. “But then my arms will go out a little more, and I get my wrist wet while I type.” This position can cause all kinds of other problems.
It is even worse for shorter people, who often work from chairs that are not large enough. Egbert often recommends put the laptop on the knees, so that your arms can be broken “where they belong”. You can tilt the laptop screen and watch it, cutting too much the risk of leaning you forward.
What to do instead
Fortunately, there are simple (and even affordable!) Solutions to this ergonomic disaster. The two experts I interviewed said your office chair is a good starting point for better posture and better office ergonomics. (We have an excellent guide that can help.)
