Working from Home? Does it spell PAIN?

Are you working from home? Keen to reduce the risk of Musculoskeletal pain occurring and stay active?

There are a number of very evidenced factors associated with pain and posture – mainly that how we sit has very little relationship to whether we get pain or not. This has changed how we look at pain and posture over the past few years and is backed up with considerable evidence. We all have that colleague who sits slumped over their computer each day and never has an ounce of pain and then there are those who sit “well” and are always complaining of pain. It’s not fair is it! – why are we constantly told, and in many cases sold, that the way we sit is the singular cause of pain when there is no evidence to suggest this is the case? Lets find out…

The answer is that pain is multifaceted, the pain ‘system’ (our central nervous system) is easily sensitised by a number of factors:

• Stress
• Lack of general movement
• Depression and Anxiety
• Tiredness/sleep issues
• Any Change – a change to our normal routine….more or less exercise, more or less sitting
• Medication induced sensitivity

So in these times of change it is important that we think of all of the reasons why we may be getting more musculoskeletal pain and what we can do about it:

• Keep a routine for work and exercise – not too much too soon of something too different from your normal
• Good Sleep
• Don’t worry about how you sit – just make the next posture your best posture. Get up and move – dance about, stretch up and twist round, anything to get your system moving even if initially it feels a bit restricted to do so.
• Take regular breaks
• Check your breathing – when we are stressed we don’t breath well – we breath up in our shoulders and not in our lower lungs

Working from home can be really successful and it doesn’t mean that because you are at the dining room table or perched on the couch that it means you will get pain – certainly worrying about it will.

It goes without saying that if you need any advice or bespoke exercises and rehabilitation during this time then don’t hesitate to get in touch and book an online consultation