The Secret to Getting Rid of Back Pain Whilst Working at Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic
How can I get rid of my back pain?
Is working at home making my back pain worse?
A few days ago I was asked to do a webinar for a large company whose employees were struggling with neck and back pain after having to work from home during these strange times. Some really interesting questions were asked and so I thought I would put these into a blog as many of you will probably be suffering with similar issues.
Daily routines have changed hugely; there is no commuting, you may be juggling working from home with looking after the kids, you may be working from any surface that isn’t covered in toys or you may just be enjoying a more relaxed approach and working from the comfort of your bed! What I have found to be the overriding complaint from people I have spoken to is that they are really starting to suffer with aches and pains that they don’t normally feel.
During the webinar I was asked a lot of questions about the best desk set ups and the best chairs to reduce this discomfort ….. but heres the secret - IT DOESN”T MATTER!
I am going to go against the grain of what most people think and say it really doesn’t matter what desk you have or what chair you have, what matters is MOVEMENT. You could have the fanciest, most expensive chair in the world, but if you sit in it without moving for 8 hours then you are going to feel very stiff and achey - the best desk set up in the world is not going to stop you getting sore if you don’t MOVE!
What I recommend to most of my patients who work from home is try and alternate where they work from - for example, spend an hour working from your desk then maybe work from your sofa for a bit before moving to the coffee table and sit on the floor for awhile. What really matters is variety - having a few different places that you can work from will ensure that you are never sat in one position for too long. The key to remember is that there are no BAD positions, just ones we stay in for too long.
Another useful suggestion is to get into the habit of little MOVEMENT SNACKS - these are small chunks of exercise or stretches that you can do throughout the day to increase the amount of movement you are doing. They don’t have to long - even 30 seconds is better than nothing! I find it useful to have a list of a few exercises or stretches that you can do in a day and keep it handy so that you can easily glance at it and pick one ‘exercise snack’ for you do at that time. Think of the list as your snack box and make sure that as well as stretching you include things like walking around the room or even just some marching on the spot - anything that is going to get our blood pumping and your muscles moving!
Most people I talk to don’t find it hard to do the movements but do find it hard to remember to do them - some people find it useful to stick a post it note within their line of vision so it gives them a reminder to get up and move and others find it more useful to set an alarm to go off reminding you to move. Whether you are setting an alarm or using other ways to remind yourself, it is important to make sure you get up and move every hour. If you are taking a proper ‘lunch break’ then this would be a great opportunity to go out for a walk - with or without the kids, to break up your day of sitting.
Often the hardest part of exercising is knowing what to do so here are a couple of videos to help give you some inspiration; one video for your upper body to help reduce neck pain and shoulder stiffness and one video with some lower back stretches!
Osteopathy for Back Pain
We are experts at pain relief at Surrey Osteopathic Care and we are still here to help you! We are currently still able to offer treatments with a full safety protocols in place so don’t feel like you have to get stuck at home suffering. If you would like to book an appointment, you can book online or give us a call on 01483 789109