Working from home has become a new normal for millions of people since the pandemic started. As a result, home work setups that are ergonomic and optimized for your health are now more important than ever. The slow development of chronic pain in your neck, back, and wrists can be avoided and managed by being intentional with your setup and at-home routines. In this blog, discover recommendations from our professionals at Ohio Sports and Spine that help you operate remotely to the best of your ability.
Top Tips to Support Your Remote or Hybrid Work Schedule
- Set Up an Ergonomic Workspace
- Mind Your Posture Consistently
- Move More Often
- Don’t Ignore Chronic Pain
- Consider Massage Therapy as Preventative Care
- Know When to Seek Professional Help
Set Up an Ergonomic Workspace
Your home office is the building block for work efficiency and preventing pain. Sitting on the couch or at the kitchen table may be contributing to potential pain you are experiencing due to the inability to support your neck, back, and wrists.
How to Setup an Ergonomic Workspace
- Check Your Monitor Height: The middle of your monitor should be at eye level so your neck stays neutral, and reduces the need to tilt up or down to see your screen.
- Chair Support: Use a chair that supports the natural curve of your lower back, and your feet should rest flat on the floor.
- Keyword and Mouse Position: To protect your wrists, make sure to keep your keyboard and mouse close enough to where your elbows are close to your sides.
- Lighting: Ensure that your screen does not have a glare, which increases your need to lean in and squint to read well.
Mind Your Posture Consistently
Another fundamental part of optimizing your work from home experience is to build the habit of checking your posture. Even with a workspace that meets the above recommendations, it is natural for your posture to fade throughout the day.
Correcting your posture helps to alleviate unnecessary stress on your body, particularly your lower back, neck, and shoulders. Your posture should showcase a back that is straight, shoulders that are back, and a neck that is above your shoulders.
Practical Posture Tips
- Set a timer every 30 to 45 minutes to do a posture check-in.
- Try the “wall test”: stand with your head, shoulders, and lower back touching a wall. That’s neutral posture.
- Strengthen your core, which acts as your body’s natural stabilizer. Our physical therapy team incorporates active core stability programs that progress from unloaded table exercises to more functional loaded movements.
Move More Often
Our bodies were not designed to be stationary for long durations of time. Prolonged sitting reduces blood flow, stiffens joints, and weakens muscles. Remote workers need to be intentional when it comes to incorporating movement into their days.
Simple Ways to Add Movement
- Take a short walk 2-3 times throughout the day.
- Utilize a standing desk or walking pad to increase step counts and blood flow.
- Add movement breaks such as neck rolls, hip flexor stretches, and more to avoid stiffening joints.
Don’t Ignore Chronic Pain
Neck pain and headaches are among the most common complaints OSSI sees in desk workers. Forward head posture, where the head juts forward in front of the shoulders, places exponential load on the cervical spine with every inch of forward displacement.
Our evidence-based chiropractic care is particularly effective for neck pain and headaches. Chiropractic physicians use spinal manipulation, myofascial release, trigger point therapy, and the McKenzie Method® of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy to address the root cause of pain, not just the symptoms. In fact, neck pain and headaches are among the most common reasons patients visit a chiropractor, and manual techniques have been shown to provide meaningful relief without medication, injections, or surgery.
Consider Massage Therapy as Preventative Care
Repetitive keyboard and mouse use is a common culprit for wrist, elbow, and forearm pain in remote workers. Conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome can develop over time and become increasingly painful if left untreated.
Our physical therapists use techniques such as nerve glides and neural mobilizations to encourage healthy nerve movement through the wrist and forearm, along with manual therapy, dry needling, and therapeutic ultrasound to address soft tissue restrictions and inflammation.
If you notice tingling, numbness, or persistent aching in your hands or forearms, don’t wait until it becomes debilitating.
Know When to Seek Professional Help
Some discomfort is normal. Pain that persists, worsens, or begins disrupting sleep or daily activities is your body telling you something needs attention. Musculoskeletal problems rarely resolve on their own, and the longer they go untreated, the more complex they become.
At OSSI, every patient receives a comprehensive evaluation and an individualized treatment plan. Whether you need physical therapy, chiropractic care, massage therapy, or a combination of these, OSSI’s multi-specialty team works collaboratively to get you back to feeling your best so you can continue enjoying the flexibility of remote or hybrid working schedules.
