“Manage Neck and Back Pain with 5 Workspace Hacks”
We spend too much time while using a phone and not sitting correctly while using these devices. Most people work from home or office, and they sit on the table or desk in the wrong positions. Working at a desk is a significant cause of neck and back pain problems.
Many people use too far away from the computer, too low or too high from their sitting position. When your neck bent, your head exerts and force on your neck. This pressure also affects your breathing mood. You spend most of the time while sitting on the uncomfortable chair and desk during working. Little movements and wrong positions are also primary sources of back pain.
The main reason for neck and back pain is that sitting in one static potion for a long time without any movement. Wrong sleeping positions also cause this pain in your body. When you sleep in the wrong posture and put pressure at your neck or back issues, it also causes these pain in your body.
If you are sitting or sleeping in prolonged postures for a long time, it can damage your spinal structure and cause worse neck and back pain. We discuss a few workspace hacks that you can use to manage your back pain and neck pain.
Ask these questions to yourself.
First of all, recognize the reason for neck and back pain and ask these questions to yourself. When you identify the problem, you can get a better solution for that. Here are the few questions that you should to yourself when you feel these problems in your body.
- Do you spend your day sitting at the desk or chair while using a phone or computer without any movement?
- How much exercise you do daily to maintain the fitness of your body?
- How old are your pillow, desk, mattress, or chair?
- How do you manage your work stress?
- Have you been injured in an accident, no matter if it was a small accident?
And the one last question you should ask yourself is this pain occurs regularly? When you get the answers to all of these questions, you can quickly get the solution to your pain.
5 workspace hacks to manage your neck and back pain
While working from home or office, you need to create an ergonomic workspace for yourself. That is more important than only buying a new chair or a new desk for your work. It would be best if you thought about all the elements around your work area.
Follow these five steps to creating an ergonomic workspace for yourself.
- Position of your Computer
While using your computer, make sure that you are sitting in the right posture, and there is no stress at your neck or back. Here are the few tips that you can use to arrange your computer in the right position while working.
- Monitor Height
The first thing you need to do is adjust your computer’s height that you should not look up or down while using it. It will help you to take away the excess strain from your back and neck. Also, manage the weight of your head with a spinal column.
- Monitor Size
If your eye-sight is a week, then replace your small monitor screen with a big one. You can also use the two pairs of monitors next to each other. A decent size of a monitor for work is a 32-inches screen.
- Monitor Type
Use the monitor, which has less glare and more comfortable on the eyes. The best monitor that you can use for yourself to avoid strain is a non-glossy LED screen. Also, balance the brightness of your screen. It can cause your eyes to fatigue.
- Lighting
Create a well light for your workspace environment tries natural light if it is possible. If you cant, have sunlight, then fluorescent light will work. Choose a suitable temperature for your light. That will be good for your eye-sight and will be less interruptive.
- Keyboard Height
Create an ergonomic working environment where your body is in a natural position. Arrange your keyboard at the height where your arms are parallel to the floor. You can use a moveable keyboard to up and down for your keyboard or adjust your chair at the right position. Keep your eyes align while an arrangement of a keyboard.
- Use ergonomic chair
Use the chair which has wheels on it, and this will allow you to adjust the comfortable position while working. Use a chair with no arms; this allows you to move your arms quickly. The chair should design with a curve like a human spine; it will adequately support your back.
Adjust the height of the chair and make sure that your things are parallel to the floor. Your feet should be flat on the floor, or you can use a footrest for this.
- Mobilize your work
We are not designed to sit on the one spot for a long time without any movement. It can cause neck and back pain, which is harmful to your body. You should move from your work position after 20 minutes of working, and you can take a small break from your work during your work.
You can use smartwatches for this purpose, a great reminder to move and breathe deeply in the open environment. You can also set a timer on your phone if you don’t have a smartwatch. You can take your phone, walking in your room or house garden.
- Take small breaks during work
Taking a small break during work increase our productivity at work. You can do small activities like exercise, playing games, and any other activity that helps you to reduce your work stress. When you take small breaks during work, it keeps your body happy and improves your mental health, and you can perform well in your work.
You can set a timer at your phone, smartwatch, or computer for this. You can keep an empty glass of water on your table that you have to fill after 20 minutes from your kitchen.
Set work boundaries for yourself. Plan your daily work chart, including small breaks, and don’t do overwork. After finishing your work, go for a short walk, play any game, or do your hobby. You can also go to the garden and see natural beauty. It helps you keep your mind fresh. These habits will help you to reduce your neck and back pain.
- Improve your Standing and Sitting Postures
A standing workspace is beneficial for your health and increases your productivity. If you have a workspace where you use a chair and sit on that, don’t worry; you can use an adjustable table. Your standing posture increases your blood circulation in your body, boots your fat, burn metabolism and decreases fatigue.
Keep in mind that your work posture plays an essential role in your life, not only from working at the desk at your office also in the presentation room. Improve your work postures while standing and sitting during work at your workspace. This will help you to reduce your neck and back pain.
- You should maintain the symmetrical body position. Don’t cross your legs or twist your body.
- Your arms should be flat on the surface of the table. Check that your arms are in 90 degrees and above the table.
- Your monitor, keyboard, the workspace should be directly in front of you.
- If you are using two screens, then it should be at a similar height side by side and also try to avoid too much twisting.
- Your eyes should be at the top level or slightly below from the top of your screen.
- If you are sitting, then your hips should be flexed between 90 to 110 degrees.
- Support the lower part of your back to avoid the fatigue if you are sitting or standing while working.
- Your feet should be flat on the floor while standing. If you are sitting, then you can use footrest along with your chair.
These positions and postures are just impossible to achieve only with a laptop. A laptop has a small screen fit in its keyboard and forces you to bend your neck and back. It causes back and neck pain in your body.
Your kitchens chairs are also causing these problems because these chairs are usually too low to sit. It impacts your neck, back, and elbow.
- Do Exercise
Daily exercise plays an essential role in your life to reduce the stress of work and maintain the fitness of body and mental health. Engaging exercises help to support the back allows the disc to exchange the fluid. Exercise helps in stretches, strengthens, and repair muscles to support the back and neck and reduce the pain.
Neck and Back pain can cramp your style. Here are the few exercises that will help your muscles in the stretch and strengthen of you’re:
- Shoulders
- Neck
- Lower Back
- Mid Back
- Upper Back
When you try these exercises daily, you will feel less pain in your neck and back in no time. These exercises you can easily do at your workplace without any exercising equipment. That will maintain your body and mental health and also reduce the back and neck pain.
- Stretching
Lose the muscles in your problem area with a good stretch first. It maintains muscles’ flexibility and improves the blood flow in the body that helps you reduce back and neck pain.
- Neck Side bend and rotation
Facing forward and start tilting your neck to your body’s right side, after 10 seconds, roll your head in a counter-clockwise direction. Repeat these steps with 2-3 times in sequence.
- Overhead arm reach
Sit on the chair facing forward and raise your arm above your head. Bend your torso till you feel stretch in your right shoulder. Repeat these steps five to six times and then do the same thing with your left arm.
- Chair Rotation
Sit sideways on the chair, move your torso to the right side, hold your upper body in that position. Use your arms and stretch deeper. Hold your body for ten seconds and repeat this 3 times.