Recently many patients have reported new neck and back pain that began with working from home conditions due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a chiropractor in Pensacola, I have been able to treat and help many of these new cases of neck and back pain. Along with our chiropractic treatment plans we have been providing instruction to our patients on how to properly set up their home workstations.
In other blogs Your Pensacola Chiropractor has written, I have noted how the best way to treat neck and back pain is to prevent it! This article provides instructions for how to create a work from home environment that will help decrease your neck and back pain and save you some trips to your local chiropractor.
During the rush to get a home office set up it can be easy for most people to forget how much effort went into properly setting up their in-office space. Most offices take care to provide proper ergonomic positioning of desks, chairs, and computers for their employees with many even providing desks that will raise allowing the employee to stand while working on the computer too.
How to properly set up an at-home workstation to prevent neck and back pain
Follow these key points when setting up your workstation at home to help avoid neck and back pain:
- Eyes should come to rest at the middle of the computer screen while sitting up straight
- Arms should be at a 90-degree angle or a little greater when typing
- The wrist should be in a neutral or flexed position when typing
- Feet should be able to comfortably touch the floor when seated (place a box or stool under your feet if necessary)
- While sitting your ears, shoulders and hips should form a straight line to ensure proper posture of the head, neck, and back
After setting up your workstation give it a practice run before you start a full day’s work. Once you begin using the workstation you will surely notice there are some changes you still need to make to create the most ergonomically correct and comfortable environment. You can read this article from Yale to learn more about how you should set up your workspace.
I am sure many people reading this are going to need to rearrange their workstation to create a suitable work environment. If you cannot create a comfortable and ergonomically correct workstation with the furniture and equipment you already have it will be important to find the necessary pieces. For those of you who want to work from home like a pro here is an article to help with that.
If you have any questions about how you can better protect your neck and back while working from home please contact us at Gilmore Chiropractic!
