Whether you are working from home or in the office, here are some tips to help keep common aches and pains at bay.
- If you are working from home, curled up on the bed or the sofa with the laptop balanced on your knee – stop it now! Your back will not thank you for it.
A chair with good lumbar support and at the correct height for you will make all the difference. If you have an office chair, this will be easier to achieve but even if you are at home sitting on a dining room chair, there are things you can do to improve your seated position. You do not need to sit bolt upright, in fact, that will probably cause you more aches and pains. Your spine has a natural curve, support your lower back with a rolled up towel if you do not have the support built into your chair.
- Make sure the chair is at a height where your feet comfortably reach the floor or if that isn’t possible, invest in a footrest or even a box under the table and no crossing your legs!
- Your computer monitor should be at a height where you do not have to tilt your head down or up to read what is on the screen. A good tip is for the header bar at the top of the screen to be at roughly the same level as your eye line. Also, if you stretch out your arm, you should just be able to touch the screen with your middle fingertip.
Eye strain is a common problem. Check the brightness of your screen and make sure you take regular breaks away from looking at the screen.
- Good lighting will also help alleviate eye strain or headaches.
- Eat well, if you’re really organised, prepare food to take with you to work and of course, make sure you stay well hydrated with plenty of fluids (ideally more water than coffee)
- The biggest killer is being sat down all day. Set the alarm on your phone to ping say 10 minutes every hour to make sure you get up and move around, even if it’s only to go to the kitchen or have a walk around the office, have a conversation with a colleague, but stretch those legs.
- Talking of stretching, here are some easy exercises you can do at your desk in addition to getting up:
- Raise your arms in the air and stretch as far as you can reach. Then take your arms over to one side, pause, come back to the centre and then do the same the other way.
- Slowly roll your shoulders back and forwards, either together or individually really squeezing your shoulder blades as you go.
- Don’t forget your legs and feet. March in your chair, get the blood flowing, and circle your ankles or if you can find something like a tennis ball, roll that under your foot.
- If your job involves driving there are simple things you can do if you are stuck in stationary traffic (please don’t do these when the car is moving!)
- Shoulder rolls mentioned above can easily be done in the car.
- Gripping the steering wheel move your upper body forward tensing your pec muscles as if you are doing press ups
- Roll your muscles by moving from one bum cheek to the other (sorry, no other way to describe that one)
- This one you can do if you are on the move or not – sing your heart out! You choose if you have the windows down or not but really exercise those vocal chords, it feels great.
The important things are to get up and move when you can, make sure your desk is set up as ergonomically as possible, and keep well fed and hydrated. Oh, and have a good sing song! Image credit: Chambers Canva Pro 2022