Work-at-home Pain Relief
Still Working From Home?
Suffering from Aches and Pains?
JACO can help!
We have found that many of our patients are still working from home and spending more time than they anticipated working at a less than ideal work station. Weâve been seeing complaints of neck pain, back pain and wrist pain that is caused by strain from poor body mechanics while working. For those of you still hunched over your laptops on the couch, legs dangling from a barstool working at the kitchen counter, or crammed into a small home office space sorely missing your comfortable office chair - we have some helpful tips for you!
Some small changes to your setup can help relieve a lot of stress on your body. Changes as simple as making sure your computer monitor is at the right height, that you have a proper chair to support your lumbar spine and that your wrists are in a neutral position with typing can have a big impact on decreasing muscle strain. Make sure your feet are supported, your computer screen is close enough to not have to lean forward, and your elbows are relaxed at your side while working.
If youâre not able to make changes to your work station and still find yourself with aches and pains, here are a couple of stretches that can help you avoid injury and decrease musculoskeletal pain. Try to take a break every hour and perform these stretches to give your muscles a break.
1. Â Â Cervical Retractions
- Â Â What to do: Tuck your chin backward like youâre making a âdouble chinâ and hold for five seconds. Repeat this 10 times.
-   Why? Many of us are leaning forward looking at our phones or computer screens, we need to reverse this strain on our neck and try to improve our postural alignment to get our ears aligned with our shoulders.
2. Low back stretch
- Â Â What to do: Place your hands on your hips and lean back while keeping your knees straight. Repeat 10 times.
- Â Â Why? A lot of us have tightness at our lumbar musculature and add strain to our lumbar spine with leaning forward unsupported or slouching in our chairs. Take a break to stand and stretch your low back to decrease the strain.
*If any of these exercises cause pain, perform them more gently or stop the exercise*
For those of you who have moved out of your office space and are now working from home, it may be a wise investment to have an Ergonomic Specialist come out and give you recommendations on how to set up your new home office space to keep you comfortable and injury-free. JACO Rehab now offers ergonomic assessments with one of our Physical Therapists who specialize in ergonomics come out to your home or office and complete a full assessment of your work space. They then make recommendations for adjustments to workspace, equipment, body mechanics and provide interventions to address any issues and decrease chance of injury.Â
Contact us today at [email protected] or call us at 381-8947 if you would like to know more about our Ergonomic Assessments.
-Article by Melanie Bean, PT, DPT
