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working from home is taking its toll on our backs
are you feeling sore from sitting on the couch hunched over your computer all day? the solution may be to move a little more.
apr 3 2020
4 minute read
it's important to move around during the day. stock/getty
let’s be honest. while working from home may have sounded a little fun before covid-19 — conference calls in bed, yay — the novelty is wearing off.
your back hurts. your neck is tight. and your butt? numb and sore. first off, sitting for long periods of time is never good for your body. and if where you are sitting happens to be soft, like a sofa or a mattress, you are going to start to feel strain and pain if your posture is lacking.
dr. diana de carvalho, an assistant professor at the faculty of medicine at memorial university in newfoundland, whose research on spine biomechanics focuses on sitting and the effect it has on our backs, says that anytime we sit, we are putting strain on our bodies. sitting causes us to bend our backs [and our hips], and move away from what’s called the “neutral range posture” for joints. that is when your ears, shoulder and hip are in a straight line.
this move away from neutral range posture puts stress on your back and neck, increasing pressure on these tissues and triggering sensors in the brain that is perceived as pain or stiffness.
“in the short term, that’s not shown to cause any damage or be a problem, but over long exposures it’s a question of whether or not it’s healthy,” says de carvalho.
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when it comes to sitting on a couch or bed, it’s a bit of a different story. while at first it can feel comfortable, as you start to sink into the couch or mattress, you end up creeping into a posture that’s much more extreme, and potentially harder on your body. de carvalho says that the softer surface tricks your brain because it happens so slowly that you don’t really notice how your posture changes.
how long you sit is more important than where you sit
but what’s concerning is not so much how you are sitting, or even where you are sitting — it’s how long you are sitting.
“for most people, you just want to limit how long you are in that position,” says del carvalho. “i definitely wouldn’t recommend sitting like that for six to seven hours a day for anybody.”
she says that the pain or stiffness you might feel in your back or bottom after sitting for a while is your brain’s way of telling you to get up and move around. age doesn’t necessarily matter either. people of all ages experience back pain, she says, although as we get older, conditions like arthritis could factor into someone’s pain.
so how can you ensure that you are maintaining the best posture to avoid body pain as you sit for long periods of time?
many are familiar with the 90-90-90 position for good posture — elbows bent at a 90 degree angle, hips at a 90 degree angle and knees at a 90 degree angle with your feet flat on the floor. “it’s a great starting point,” says de carvalho.
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“we also need to be mindful of how long we’re in these postures. sitting for the whole day without taking a break…the bigger consequence is going to be the overall impact on our health, which is probably the most important thing to keep in mind,” she says, adding that getting up and moving around for a few minutes at every hour is a good way to help posture.
de carvalho also recommends changing where you are working, so that you’re not staying in one position for a prolonged period of time, using a kitchen countertop as a standing desk, for example.
stretching is also important, particularly lower back and side stretches which help to relax the muscles and neutralize the spine and also relax the neck and shoulders from hunching over a screen. one resource she recommends comes from the canadian chiropractic association , and includes exercise instruction for both adults and youth, allows for tracking and sharing, and also includes educational information regarding back and common back-related problems.
but when you do go back to sitting, there’s no specific work position that’s better than another. whether it’s the bed, a desk, or the couch (and putting your feet up is okay), it all comes down to listening to our bodies and knowing when we need to get moving. “i don’t think necessarily there’s one posture that’s better than another,” she said. “i think it all comes down to listening to your body and finding what works best for you.”
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whether you’re standing or sitting while working, the key is ensuring that you’re not hunching over or putting unnecessary pressure on your back for long periods of time. moving a monitor or laptop to eye level — one way to do this is by stacking books underneath it to raise it to the desired height — can help you keep good posture and lessen the strain on your back.
de carvalho says above all things, the most important thing is to listen to your body, and take breaks often to move around. “you don’t need expensive things or extra equipment. just moving around, i think that’s really important,” she says.
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