Backs, posture, movement
The ordinary hours are what your back actually notices
Not the gym, not the mattress advert. The eleven hours between the kettle and the sofa, and the small adjustments that quietly change how those hours land.
Upright Notes reads the NHS pages, the ergonomics research and the exercise sheets that clinicians hand out, then writes them up in plain English for people with normal desks, normal gardens and normal knees. Everything here is general reading, never a substitute for seeing someone qualified.
Being read this week
Setting up an office chair so your back stops complaining by four o'clock
Seat height, seat depth, backrest and armrests, in the order that actually matters. Ten minutes with the levers you have never touched.
Read the guide SleepThe best sleeping position for lower back pain
Side, back or front, and where a pillow does the most good. Plus why the perfect position matters less than most people are told.
Read the guide NeckWaking with a stiff neck, and the stretches that ease it
Four gentle movements you can do before you are properly awake, and how long a crick in the neck usually takes to settle.
Read the guide Everyday lifeWhy your back hurts the day after gardening
Hours of forward bending, a border that will not weed itself, and the simple pacing habit that keeps a Saturday from ruining a Sunday.
Read the guide MovementSimple stretches for hips that have been sitting all day
Five minutes, no mat, no kit. What tight hips have to do with a sore lower back, and what they do not.
Read the guide Therapies explainedWhat osteopathy actually is in the UK
How the profession is regulated, what a session usually involves, what it costs, and how to check that a practitioner is on the register.
Read the guideWhat this site is, and what it is not
Upright Notes is a publication, not a practice. Nobody here examines anyone, takes bookings or has an opinion about your particular shoulder.
The aim is narrow and useful: take the guidance that already exists, from the NHS, from NICE, from the professional registers and from decent ergonomics research, and turn it into something a person can act on before their next meeting. Where the evidence is thin, the page says so. Where a symptom needs a real appointment, the page says that too, loudly.
Every article carries the date it was last checked. Older pages are revisited rather than quietly left to rot, because guidance on backs has changed a great deal in twenty years and a page written in 2015 can be confidently wrong.
Read the full medical disclaimer, or write to the editors about a correction.
You will not find
- Appointments, bookings or a waiting list.
- Personal advice on your symptoms, however politely you ask.
- Recommendations for a named clinic or practitioner.
- Miracle posture devices with an affiliate link attached.
- Anyone here claiming a protected clinical title.
One change, this week
Raise the screen, drop the shoulders
Most laptop pain is a geometry problem. The screen sits low, the head drifts forward to meet it, and the muscles along the back of the neck spend eight hours holding a bowling ball at arm's length. The fix costs nothing if you own books.
- Lift the screen until the top line of text sits roughly level with your eyebrows.
- Add a separate keyboard and mouse, so your hands can stay low while the screen stays high.
- Pull the chair in far enough that your forearms rest without reaching forward.
- Set an alarm for every forty minutes and stand up for the length of one kettle boil.
The full desk guide takes this further, including what to do when the kitchen table is the only desk available.
Browse by what is bothering you
Posture, from the signs to the sensible fixes
What poor posture looks like in real life, whether it causes pain on its own, and the habits worth building.
Open the guide GuideBack pain, the plain version
Why most episodes settle, what helps in the first week, and the red flags that mean a call rather than a wait.
Open the guide GuideHome office ergonomics on a real budget
Chairs, screens, kitchen tables and sofas, ranked by how much damage limitation each one needs.
Open the guide GuideManual therapy in the UK, explained
Osteopathy, physiotherapy and chiropractic: training, regulation, cost, and how to check a register in two minutes.
Open the guideBefore you read anything else
Back pain with numbness around the back passage or genitals, loss of bladder or bowel control, a fever, unexplained weight loss, or pain following a serious fall is not something to research. In the UK, contact your GP or call NHS 111 straight away, and 999 if symptoms are severe or come on suddenly.