A lot of us are working from home amid the worldwide pandemic currently happening. This is nothing new to some. Maybe you have a nice, comfortable office space complete with a supporting chair. However, to others, this is anything but normal, and maybe your office is a kid’s art table and chair.
Whatever your situation is, a lot of us are finding ourselves sitting and working more often than not. This can mean experiencing more and new aches and pains that weren’t noticed while working in the office. This is because most offices furnish their desks with ergonomic furniture and most employees get up and walk around the office for various reasons throughout the day. There is no water cooler at home.
These weeks have turned to months for working at home, and they have strained our bodies not only mentally, but physically. These new aches and pains may lead us down a road to debilitating muscle injuries such as bad backs, sore necks, and achy shoulders.
To avoid going down this path, make sure you are spending as much time as you are able working in a neutral position where no body part is awkwardly bent or twisted. Also, try to move around every 30 minutes. You want to walk around and get yourself a cup of coffee or water. If you can, try to stretch. There are a plethora of apps and online sites that will help you figure out what back exercises to do to stay limber. There are even health sites that will help withlumbar disc bulge exercises.
If you work at a computer, try to view your screen with a straight neck. This means putting your screen at a comfortable viewing height. We tend to look down at laptop screens, so you may want to evaluate your computer to combat this habit.
After you have found the best height for your screen, make sure it is sideways to a bright window. This will minimize eye strain from a glare and you don’t want your back to your screen because the incoming light will cause a glare on it. Also, you won’t be straining your neck and back to look away from a screen if it is too bright. If you have blue light glasses, make sure you wear those as well.
Also, don’t read from an iPad or papers that are flat on your desk or table to where you are constantly moving your head up and down. If you go back from a screen to reading material, use a vertical document holder or iPad stand to relieve this strain.
Since your computer is at a comfortable height in front of you, so should your keyboard. Your keyboard and mouse should be used with your forearms and hands level and straight. Also, your arm should be close to the side of your body when you use a mouse. You have nerves that leave your neck and run down your shoulder, elbow and wrist, so when your arm is at your side, the nerves aren’t compromised. The more you have to stretch, the greater chance there will be to strain your back, neck, or shoulder.
Other small tips are to make sure you sit back in your chair and limit the time you spend working in bed. Also try to limit the time you spend standing. Just following some of these tips at your home work environment can help you lessen your chance of injury.
Back pain is a health problem that’s sweeping the nation. It comes in different types, but one thing remains the same; it hurts. So, this article will help provide some solutions for everyone suffering with a bad back, to heal your pain:
In most cases, back pain is caused by muscular imbalances in the pelvic region. More specifically, excessive sitting has caused tight and shortened hip flexors, which tighten your lower back too. This leads to weak and lengthened abdominal and gluteal muscles. So, to alleviate your pain, you should stretch the tight muscles and strengthen the weak ones. This brings more balance to the area and helps improve posture. The same is said for upper back pain which is sometimes caused by tight chest muscles that pull the shoulders forward causing your upper back muscles to lengthen and be weak. Again, strengthen what’s weak and stretch what’s tight.
Surgery
Depending on the nature of your back pain, surgery could be the best option to relieve pain forever. If you have muscle problems that cause your pain, surgery isn’t going to be the solution for you. However, for disk or spinal issues, surgery is an excellent idea. There are many spine surgery methods that deal with the source of your pain and rectify it – hopefully, for good! This includes surgery where metal rods are inserted to straighten your spine if it’s too curved and causing too much pain. The best course of action would be to consult your doctor and ask about any surgical procedures that might benefit you. If they think surgery is needed to cure your daily back pain, then it’s well worth going through with it. Especially if you’ve tried everything else and you’re still in pain.
Myofascial Release
If your back often feels tight and knotted, then you could do with some myofascial release to heal the pain. This is a massage method that focuses on muscle knots, or ‘trigger points’, and works them until they release and your muscles relax. It’s a great way to get almost instant relief from persistent back pain. You can enjoy this via a professional masseuse and make regular trips to keep your back pain-free. Or, you can buy things like foam rollers or massage balls to do it at home by yourself.
Sit Less
A really simple way to cure your back pain is to sit less. I already mentioned how a lot of pain is caused by too much sitting. If you work an office job, then you’ll sit for hours then sit in your car and sit on the sofa. Stand up and go for a walk around the office or lie down on your back when you get home. Do anything that doesn’t involve you sitting for hours on end, and you’ll see drastic improvements.
Always make sure you consult a medical professional if you have any back pain. Look for second and third opinions too, to be extra sure you know the cause of your problem. This will help you figure out which route is the best to go down for curing pain.
British clinician Martin Bell is so fed up with treating women for joint pain because of their high heels he has devised a course – to teach them to walk properly.
Martin Bell, 40, has been inundated with women complaining of back and knee pain because of their “wonky” posture on high heels.
The clinical orthotist has already helped hundreds of women by teaching them to stand and use their leg muscles properly and “fight” what their body has become used to.
He said that unless women walk in high heels correctly they could end up with chronic joint problems which could take years to resolve.
Martin Bell said: “I got fed up with so many girls coming through my clinic with back pain and numb feet and who suffer from wonky standing.
“I have to say I have an agenda against the Great British wobbly bottom, it’s that which means girls are unable to walk in heels.
“This is my venture to try and access these girls before they start coming to my clinic. We can do something now to change this and improve their posture.
“When I see girls who wear heels one of the most frequent problems related to them are weak knees and back pain.
“I work with them to look at their physical strength and muscle tightness, our legs are shock absorbers so if we aren’t walking properly they are going to hurt.”
Martin Bell’s unique course – called Perfectly Poised – takes place in his offices in the posh suburb of Clifton, Bristol, UK.
Martin Bell’s course Perfectly Poised takes place in his offices in the posh suburb of Clifton
It involves filming his client walking in her heels and then playing back the footage to analyze her walk.
He examines the way in which each girl uses their legs and back when walking, picking out subtle hints with their posture that could help alleviate their pain.
Martin Bell then gives them exercises to help strengthen any weak muscles and improve their walk.
He said his main clients stem from those who have never trained to improve their muscle control.
“The difficulty is if a girl has never done any running or never ever been to the gym or trained to improve their muscle control and suddenly jumps into a pair of heels,” Martin Bell said.
“The body cannot understand what has just happened and she thinks she can walk like she does in a pair of flip flops or ugg boots.
“She then runs the risk of going head over heels like a new born calf.
“The girls can end up standing like stalks too, with their knees entirely flexed and thus they get a lot of lower back pain.
“My other clientele stem from those middle-aged successful business women who suddenly realize there is a young girl in their office who can strut around with no problem in heels.
“They feel heels give them power so they are desperate to use them, but end up with crippling pain.”
Martin Bell added that he understands the need to wear heels, but feels that if women want to they should be properly equipped with the right knowledge of how to use them.
He said: “I’m not saying they are not fabulous things, they are, unfortunately, a necessary evil in working life.
“From asking the girls they have all said that heels can give extra height and confidence. They said it is head turning, dynamic and more powerful.
“It is also, of course, that girls tend to feel sexier in heels because it instantly makes every girl’s legs longer.
“They just need to know how to walk in them properly.”
Women can chose to attend either a group programme, or a one-to-one session to improve their walk and posture.
They are advised to wear comfortable clothing which shows off their curves so a better assessment can be made of their posture.
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