Working from Home? Here’s 5 Back Relief Pain Tips to Help
Back pain working from home? Discover our 5 back pain relief tips that anyone can apply to their home working life.
The pandemic has altered the way many of us work. It has been a huge wake up call in some instances, while in others it has led to new and interesting ways to work. For many people working from home has become something of a new normal. While it has certain advantages (less commute time, working in comfort of your home and less gas consumed to name a few), it does have certain disadvantages and back pain is one of them. In many cases, while the home has become an office, inadequate desk and chair equipment has led to improper posture and consequently, pain.
So we’ve put together 5 back pain relief tips to help relieve that pain or even keep it at bay.
Office Equipment
Having a proper area to set up your work station is vital. Being able to separate from your personal space will help your overall well being and sanity. Having the right equipment is also important. A desk that provides sufficient space to work from and being the correct height. An office chair to provide back and neck support and encourage proper posture is a must.
A couple of things here. Standing desks have become an interesting feature and could be incorporated into your work station. Even if your desk doesn’t raise in height, you could always boost the height with boxes or something to raise your station up. And then work like that for an hour or so at a time. This will help your posture a lot.
Knee stool chairs also provide a great way to improve posture and prevent back pain. Check out some interesting stool designs here for instance.
Keep Mobile
One of the toughest things to do when working from home is to keep active and mobile. In the workplace, it’s common to walk to another colleagues workstation, and so you get a little break from sitting and are able to stretch the legs.
At home, this doesn’t happen so you have to be very mindful to take regular breaks and do some simple stretches or exercises. Set an alarm on your phone to go off every couple of hours so you get into the habit of breaking away from your work station.
Reverse the Effects of Sitting
When you sit your spine compresses. This is due to gravity and the posture of the body. Over time, this compression can trap nerves, induce dysfunction and ultimately lead to inflammation and pain. A great way of reversing this effect is to get yourself a yoga block. These cost less than $10 from Walmart or Amazon.
A couple of times a day, lay on your back with your knees up and feet flat on the floor. Bring your butt up and then slide the yoga block under your tailbone. Slowly bring your butt down so your tailbone is resting on the block.
Next, stretch your legs and arms out and hold the position. At first you may only be able to hold for several seconds, but as you do this each day, try and increase by 20 seconds and eventually try and hold it for up to 5 minutes.
This will help reverse the compression on your lower back and decompress your lower spine. It will improve function and reduce pain.
Dealing with the Entire Spine
Inversion tables are a fantastic way to decompress the entire spine and thus improve wellbeing and function. These can be bought for less than $100, again Amazon, Walmart etc sells these.
An inversion table is like the name suggests, you lay flat on it and then tilt your body upside down. Hold the position for minutes enables gravity to stretch out your spine and again decompress the joints.
Ice the Joints
If you are in pain, one of the best back pain relief tips is to ice it. Get an ice pack and place on the affected area for no more than 20 minutes. The ice will help with inflammation which causes pain. Leave off for 10 minutes and then reapply for another 20. The more you can do this, the better the results should be, but if you aren’t finding relief from this, come in and see us as we can help. Normally you should see an improvement within a day or so.
These 5 back pain relief tips are simple to follow and can be done from the comfort of your home office. Remember, prevention is better than cure, so even if you currently don’t feel any pain or discomfort, that’s not to say in the future you will. So get your home office set up properly. Keep mobile and stretch and exercise often. Hang upside down at the end of each day for 15 minutes. And if you are in pain, ice the area.
If you are suffering from pain, we have many treatment options available to you. From chiropractic care to physical therapy to massage therapy, we have a solution for your pain. Call us today 509-299-6900 or schedule online. It’s fast and easy and we will do our best to help you find relief.