Dr Sameh Abolfotouh, Orthopedics and Spine Surgeon, Medcare Orthopedics and Spine Hospital givees us the right advice.
March, 2022 marks the 2nd anniversary of the WHO announcement of COVID 19 as a pandemic. Since the beginning of the Corona virus pandemic 2 years ago, many people started working from home. Working from home sounds very convenient to a lot of people. They can skip commute, have a relaxed dress code and spend more time with the family.
But working from home has led to new challenges of converting the bed, the sofa and the dining room to become a substitute workspace. This has definitely resulted in leaving people with more neck and back pain as well as other musculoskeletal problems.
Beyond our desk setups, there are a lot of other factors playing a role in this. Working from home made people move much less than what they used to do when they were commuting to work on daily basis. Research has shown that dramatic decreases in activity leads to increases in musculoskeletal pain, such as neck, shoulder and low back pain.
Also, Psychological stress and the fear of the unknown has played an important role in this. We already know from the literature that 40% of patients diagnosed with depression or anxiety have back pain.
Here are few tips on how to prevent or decrease back and neck pain when working from home:
- Get a break and start moving: it’s really important to stand up and stretch every 50 -60 mins even if you do that for 5 mins. Believe it or not our musculoskeletal system is built to move not to stand still for long times. Even when you have back pain and stiffness moving around is going to make you better and relieve that muscle sprain that you have in your back and neck.
- Consider working while standing: We know very well that the worst position for your back that carries the highest pressure on your disc spaces is the sitting position. Using one of those standing desks might be helpful. They come now in different shapes and prices. It doesn’t have to be he fanciest desk in the market. Make sure when you use those that the height is appropriate to you. Your arms should be at a 90 degrees position. Again, don’t forget moving every 50-60 mins.
- Invest in an ergonomic chair: while the idea of working from your sofa sounds appealing, it’s in fact killing your back. The chair that you choose should have a proper lumbar support with adjustable arm rests that move forward and back.
- Set your screen at an appropriate height: your computer screen shouldn’t be too high or too low. The key here is to have your eyes focused on the center of the screen. If you are using a laptop, make sure it’s raised between 5-10 inches to account for the appropriate screen height.
- Try to relax and de-stress: Relaxation is not only important for your mental health; it also helps your back pain. In a study published in 2016, yoga and meditation were found to be as effective as taking pain medications in reducing chronic low back pain.
