AS YOU KNOW, I’ve been back at work for a week now. And I’ve already started to see a pattern of muscle tension from the clients I’ve seen, who all happen to be working from home.
They come in with a complaint of increased neck stiffness, stiffness between the shoulders blades and stiffness along the spine. When they tell me that, I automatically ask if they are working from home and almost all of them say yes.
Before working from home was the cool and safe thing to do, there was already this known fact that desk workers don’t have the best posture, but then you add in the fact they are now working from home now and probably don’t have an ergonomic set up. The postural problems start to become worse than before.
So here is a list of Do’s and Don’t while working from home to save your neck and back.
DO
- Take breaks to move and stretch your neck and back, at least once an hour
- Set up your computer so it’s at level with your eyes
- Sit in a comfortable chair with support at your back and allows your hips to be around 90 degrees
- Fun chair exercises as you work, such as glute squeezes, shoulder blade retractions and abdominal activation
- Designate a working zone
Don’t
- Stay in one position for longer than an hour
- Constantly look down at your screen
- Use your couch or bed as your workspace chair
- Slump and stay in that position
- Work in a common area with a lot of distractions (family, TV)
In all honesty, if you just take breaks and move your body you’re neck and back will thank you. For more postural exercises, I suggest looking at my postural exercises page and choose the one’s that work best for you. Self-massaging may be a good option as well, and luckily I have a page for those right here. And when in doubt, I’m sure your Massage Therapist will help you out!
Stay mobile, stay moving and stay dynamic,
Dylan Crake RMT & R.KIN 
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