After two years of working from home, you may have taken stock and realized: Working from home is hurting your back. From the initial good feeling that this freedom to work from home is finally possible, you may only now have become aware of the other side of the coin.
The constant home office “banishment” is starting to get to you. You often have headaches and back pain. You miss the social contact with colleagues and direct interaction. A lot of things now only happen via online meetings. You no longer have to commute to work. Some people have taken to cycling or a mixture of walking and public transport. This also means that a large part of daily exercise in the fresh air is no longer possible.
The clear separation of work and private life is also noticeable. Because the boundaries have become very fluid. What’s more, it’s even harder to really be offline. For some, this situation means even more work and the need to get even more done in a day or to be able to multitask. In our Munich, Lindau and Ammersee chiropractic lounges, we see a number of patients who are suffering from severe pain as a result of working from home.
Study proves – working from home is harmful
Due to the many restrictions, the usual sports routines or even the way there and also the social contacts with others were missing. There was no balance to the constant sitting and rigid PC work. A study from 2021 shows that every 4th person complains of back pain.
Overall, the ongoing stressful situation put latent pressure on people and all the back and forth with all the rules in all areas of life was just annoying. For us, there is no question that all this meant a permanent stress level for body, mind and soul! And we know and experience every day how supportive chiropractic was and is for our patients.
Tips and tricks for working at home
Our tips for working at home are designed to make it easier for you to work from home. At the same time, a few tricks that are effective against feeling permanently stressed.
1 Use the Promodoro technique
It has long been proven that multitasking is not efficient. Keeping the focus on one task, topic or project, on the other hand, is efficient. The Pomodoro technique is a time management strategy that involves 25-minute work sessions and 5-minute breaks. Divide your work into manageable chunks. This way, you can tackle one task at a time and beat mental and digital fatigue.
To make it easier to stay focused, switch off all distractions. Keep your cell phone out of reach, deactivate chats or other push messages that take you out of your workflow.
2 Make sure you take regular exercise breaks
Organize your tasks so that you spend 30 minutes concentrating on your work and 10 minutes taking a movement break. Also open the window and take a few deep breaths. If the 30 minutes seem too short, you can adjust this individually. However, you should not sit for longer than two hours without a break.
Sitting – the number 1 enemy of your health
Sitting and working at a PC for so long means that your body is constantly in a rigid posture that rarely changes. This is not our original nature. Your body is designed to move in a variety of ways. And your brain is mainly concerned with keeping you upright. If you move a lot, it’s also a good workout for your brain. Because it also ensures that you train your sense of balance.
A few book tips on the subject of sitting:
“Sitting is for the ass”, Dr. Vivian Suchert
“Sitting is the new smoking”, Dr. Kelly Staret
You can find a good TED talk on the topic of sitting and its impact on our health here.
Redesign your workplace
We have created a video with lots of tips on how to optimize your workplace.
You can also listen to the content of the blog article and much more. Robert has recorded a podcast about it. Listen to the episode, have fun!
We hope you enjoy implementing and letting go of old habits. If you would like to know more about vitalistic chiropractic, please write to us.
The Chirolounge team Munich
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