Santa doesn’t just sit at a desk for work! He is out in
the world, in and out of his sleigh, getting
the help of others (elves and reindeer!) to do part
of the hard, back-breaking work. However, he also works from his
home/workshop which certainly brings him similar stresses and pain like it does for the
rest of us who now realize the dream of working from
home. However, we can learn from his example. He does not just lounge
at a desk. He gets help for heavy chores. He moves!
Layden Chiropractic urges all of our Plainville
work-from-home friends to do the same as well as arrange
pain-reducing chiropractic care
for the back pain, neck pain, shoulder, and other pain(s) you may now have.
THE DREAM: WORK FROM HOME, LEARN AT HOME
Working from home. It was the dream of many…until the dream came true. There are some stunning
statistics on how work-from-home has changed so many
of us. One study of 232 telecom employees documented that
39% had more pain in the low back, 48% in the upper back/neck, and 27% in their
hands. Only 33% said they did not have any such
musculoskeletal pain issues. (Women said
that they experienced more issues than men.) 30% worked in a separate room
at home, 32% worked in a dedicated area of a room with
other members of the home, 38% worked in a non-separate area like
the dining room. 41% didn’t have an office
chair; 32% had an ergonomic chair. 71% were distracted
by constant or random disturbances.
52% worked longer hours. Only 30% took recurrent
breaks. (1) Students underwent much the same as the workers
did when their learning and teaching was performed
at home: low back pain for 73%, neck pain for 69%, shoulder pain for 59%. Influencing
factors for students were pain, academic stresses, personal/emotional issues,
work environment, and time in front of the computer. (2) For the
work-from-home dream to come true with less pain
requires some preparation. Your Plainville chiropractor is
ready to help you prep.
WORKING FROM HOME: THE SET UP
Any new venture needs a plan. Beginning
without the plan backfires for many. 89% of
new-to-working-at-home workers who participated in a survey described some musculoskeletal pain.
Upper back pain was said to be a result of
nonergonomic work environments with suboptimal computer
configurations while nonergonomic postures were related
to headache and low back pain. (3) A study of university
employees documented that 61% of them had
more musculoskeletal pain working from home with neck, shoulder and low back
pain being the most common. Women stated
significantly more pain than men. Seat height and monitor distance were significant risk factors
for discomfort and pain in work-from-home employees. (4)
HOPE FOR NEW WORK-FROM-HOME PAIN
There is hope! Despite the new
work-from-home trend that resulted in more sedentary
lifestyles, reduced physical activity, and greater
musculoskeletal pain like back pain, researchers remarked
that exercise and less sitting around successfully decreased
low back pain and even ‘cured’ it for participants in their study. (5)
Layden Chiropractic presents some simple, gentle exercises for our
Plainville chiropractic patients. Start them after we do a thorough exam and you begin noticing
relief with our gentle chiropractic spinal manipulation care.
CONTACT Layden Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. John Murray on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares
relieving chiropractic care for back and neck pain patients with The Cox®
Technic System of Spinal Pain Management on The Cox®8 Table.
Make your Plainville chiropractic
appointment soon. Be like Santa: move, delegate
the heavy lifting, alter your workspace! Happy Holidays!