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How are you coping with the personal restrictions that have been placed on you due to the pandemic and its related issues?  Maybe, like many, you have been forced to, or made your own decision to, work from home.  While you may think your routine of carrying out your work remains the same, apart from the change of location, the resulting effects can alter considerably as you start to develop symptoms such as back, neck and shoulder pain.  As I often work from home, I can appreciate, as a fellow sufferer, how this symptoms can affect different aspects of life.

With the approach of Backcare Awareness Week (5th - 9th October), it was a surprise to me as I never suspected that there was such an event, I felt it was appropriate that I should share with you some of the advice I had received regarding how to alleviate back, neck and shoulder pain even if publication considerations meant that the advice might arrive after the event.  But better late than never and hopefully it will aid some in getting rid of the pain symptoms.  This advice is the result of a collaboration between Feel Good Contacts and the Personal Trainer, Badrid Islam.

If you are sat at a desk, dining table, bed or sofa (and I feel I must point out that I have never used the latter two options for when working) for up to eight hours a day, while carrying out repetitive tasks, then you could almost be begging for issues with back  pain.  Even just sitting for lengthy periods could have a detrimental impact on your health and well-being thus cutting years of your life.  According to the World Health Organisation, inactivity is listed as the fourth biggest risk factor in global adult mortality.  So what can you do to help yourself?

One obvious solution would be to relegate sofas to their original restful use and not as the location from which to produce work.  Working from such a location could put a huge amount of strain on your shoulders and neck area.  If, for any reason, there is no alternative to using a sofa for working then you could carry out some dynamic exercises such as walking around your home while involving yourself in tasks that include lifting your shoulder, rolling it back and squeezing shoulder blades together. 

You could also move your head to different positions as you move around.  Even when in a seated position on the sofa, it would help if you change your position at regular intervals.  This positional change could involve sitting on the floor or perhaps adopting the so-called superman position as you place yourself on all fours while on the floor as you stretch out one arm and the opposite leg for around ten seconds.  You could then change the arm and leg around.  I would suggest trying out this exercise while on your own to avoid any risible comments from an unexpected audience.

Instead of walking around when taking a break, you could just stand up which would enable you to continue working.  In such cases you could make use of a desk-riser device.  This particular piece of equipment enables you to raise of lower a desktop computer and monitor so that it is easily accessible whether you were seated or standing.  For a more simple solution, you could hold a long-handled brush or even a towel and then complete a motion as you raise it over your head slowly several times.  This process has the effect of opening up chest muscles while mobilising your back muscles.

It is also possible to turn regular daily tasks into some form of exercise.  Take for instance waiting for a kettle to boil.  This previous dead period could be used to carry out simple sessions of performing squats or stretches to fill the time.  Many of the tasks you perform on a daily basis could be carried out standing rather than sitting.  You can even introduce regular time breaks into your daily  schedule.  This could be set up by an alarm clock or your smartphone.  I have used this latter method to remind me when to take a daily dose of medication.  With longer breaks you could motivate yourself to go for a walk or light run to help remove any kinks from your body.

So remember to serve your body right, so it could serve you right.

https://backcare.org.uk/event/backcare-awareness-week/