Ok everybody, you’ve been working from home for a week or two and the number of people stepping in the clinic with issues related to it has skyrocketed - sore necks, achy back and stiff shoulders that won’t let you sleep. Let’s stop this massacre now!

Here’s the solution: our ultimate guide to working from home.

Lots of things are changing at a very fast pace. One thing that is affecting all of us is that we are spending much more time at home - and definitely lots of this time is on a digital device.

Some of us have started working from home, and might be still doing this in a few weeks - or months - time. I really hope these people are enjoying it and will be able to keep this lifestyle even when social distancing is not necessary anymore; actually they should fight for it when their employer revokes the home work situation.

Patients and I have lobbied for increased home work hours for years, sometimes with great success, sometimes not as successfully. When your office job does not require much presence in a physical office, because you don’t have to communicate with colleagues or all parts of your job only require a computer and an internet connection, it’s been proven that people can perform at least as efficiently from home. Especially if they suffer from any musculoskeletal issue. Benefits include:

1. No commuting time (from 30 minutes to 3 hours per day on average)

Decreased risk of accidents, back and hip disorders due to the action of driving. Decreased exposure to fumes and pollution, noise and direct air conditioning.

2. Less socializing - less interruptions

Come on, you’re all thinking that. Let’s be honest. Being in contact with people is great, but sometimes you just want to get in da zone and get stuff DONE. Distractions can be frustrating and undermine concentration, decreasing overall performance and sense of accomplishment.

3. Healthy behaviours

Having all that time usually spent to commute can allow us to sleep a bit longer, or maybe just take it a bit more slowly in the morning enjoying a good breakfast. At home we can wear jumpers and comfortable clothes most of the times, and it can be easier to take a quick break to stretch or do some push ups or whatever you feel like doing to get your heart pumping. Proper lunch break, home made coffee and meals, walks in the neighbourhood, time with our pets (and family too, but pets mainly). I could go on and on describing how all these things combined can reduce the amount of stress in our body and all its chemical and physiological effects in the systems and on our brain.

Ok let’s cut to the chase, here’s the gravy.

You’re here because you want to know what to do and you want to hear it from somebody who knows what they’re talking about. At our clinic we offer online home office health check and corporate packages to allow employers to take best care of their employees. We’ve worked with RSPCA SA and Ryderwear in the past, for example. I have always been passionate about working with people who work, who love working and want to make sure they can keep doing the things they like for as long as they want.

Let’s start. Go through the following points and check how good your home/work station is right now, and if there’s things you can change. You can always contact us for anything more specific, but this will give you a good place to start from.

Avoid couch and bed if possible, and definitely for more than 10 minutes. Hipsters can still have sore necks.

0. Bad postures do not exist - if you keep changing them.

You can make your work station perfect, risk free and as comfy as it can be. If you sit there and wok obsessively for hours without taking a break, moving, walking, stretching, you’ll still be increasing the chance to getting aches and pains, a sore stiff neck at night or a sore back in the morning. Repetitive movements and maintained positions are two things our body doesn’t really excel at, be mindful of this.

1. Compromise is key.

You might find you cannot change every single factor in your workstation. Don’t panic. Try to get it as good as it can, but especially make sure it feels comfortable for you. You can always use things around the house to try a different solution before going to buy an expensive item. As long as you follow the instructions of the point zero above, you’ll be ok!

2. Lower body.

Starting from the bottom, our feet should lay comfortably on the floor (or on a foot rest) and we should still have room to stretch our legs completely. Our shins should be vertical and our thighs horizontal, which would make a nice 90 degree angle for our knees. The back of our knees should not get in contact with the seat of the chair.

3. Back.

We should sit with our bum against the back rest, which should have a bump to allow our spine to keep its natural lumbar curve. If your chair doesn’t support your back much, and you feel like you’re always sliding or slouching, get a lumbar support from our clinic; a rolled towel can do the trick too for now, but you’ll start hating it as it unfolds, moves and turns! Abdominal breathing helps with relaxing our back muscles and keeping the natural lumbar lordosis (C-shaped curve) while sitting. The back rest should be flexible enough to accommodate our movements but also stiff enough to keep our position nice and straight.

4. Upper body.

We need to allow our shoulders to be relaxed, with our elbows falling nice and close to the body. We achieve this by putting the keyboard at the right distance in front of us, also so that our wrists are around the same height of our elbows. It’s a bit hard to find the perfect balance between these factors, this might take some trial and error time, but it’s totally worth it, as the most common consequence is that our shoulders go in a permanent state of shrugging, which is not cool. At all.

These elbows are a bit too low, don’t you think?

5. Neck.

Poking chins and awkward-shaped necks are not great either. Make sure you take often a deep breath, review and reset your posture. Positioning the top of your screen level with your eyes height can help, so that you avoid lifting and dropping your head too often. Tired eyes will make you squint and get closer to the screen too, so be mindful of work hours if you don’t want to end up with a headache or a sore neck at the end of the day. Self-control yo!

6. General safety.

These are more boring and standard health ad safety checks, but do not take them for granted. Quickly go through these points and make sure everything is clear.

Keys, phone and first aid kit at hand for emergency. Having a direct path to the exit would be preferable.
Smoke detector - replace battery.
Strictly no smoking indoors and during working hours.
Control glare and reflections from light and windows.
Proper temperature control in each season, but don’t crank it too high! Think about your health and the environment: aim for 20-22 degrees Celsius during the day, 17 at night. Setting your thermostat this way will also save you lots of moneta.
Lock your doors and screen doors.
Avoid overloading power outlets with double adapters and powerboards.
Check sockets, plugs and connectors for any external damage, they need to be in safe condition.
No sharp contact points between items.
Check the chair’s padding, it needs to be in good conditions.

7. Buying brand-new items.

If you think that the equipment you have at home is good enough, we always recommend to give it a good try for at least a couple of weeks. If it ends up working well for you, awesome! You saved money and prevented goods in working conditions from going straight to landfill.

However, sometimes there’s no chance that the crappy old-school office chair rescued from your grandpa’s shed will do you any good, so please invest in a new item. Do it now, and you’ll benefit from it from day 1, instead of hating life for the next few months and then resorting into buying it in any case.

Chair.

Karen sampling her sit-stand desk options

Good chairs have 5 wheels and 3 adjustment levers - height, seat tilt and backrest tilt. That’s basically it. They are not the cheapest, but almost. Definitely no need to spend more than $500, especially if you know the situation is just temporary.

If you’re in Adelaide, please go see our friends at Ergocentre. They’re local and provide all the assistance your may require. I’d recommend checking out the models Imperial and Mirage.

Desk

If you use a stand-up desk at work, ask if you can bring it home for a certain amount of time or buy your own. If you know that you’re more comfortable standing up while typing, a stand up desk can be life-changing. In general however, it’ll help anybody break the routine and change posture for a while.

Other accessories

If you use a laptop, a raiser is very handy to keep the top of the screen at eye level.
Chairs don’t like to slide on carpets, so put some matting under it - you’ll protect the carpet and you won’t have to yank the chair, protecting your back too.
If you’re having troubles making the factors at point 2 align, a foot rest can be a possible solution, and if you’ve had wrist or elbow issues in the past, wrist support and ergonomic keyboard and mouse are definitely some things you should consider.

Was this too much yappin’? You think your set-up is still not comfortable? Book an online home office health check - or at home, whatever - and let’s fix it together.

Blog

How to set up your home office - our physio’s top tips for easy ergonomic design